CPD Specifier May 2015 issue January 2015 | Page 39

Outdoor Engineering Retaining, Recycling, Reusing Rainwater Listening to the daily weather forecast over the winter period, you will hear a myriad of warnings about predicted rainfall and flooding. It is without doubt that the UK weather patterns appear to have changed significantly over the last decades, and it is now that we have to seriously think about how we control and manage our storm water. £60/month for their water provision. Reducing this volume by half when considering greywater re-use (re-using treated waste water from showers, washing etc) and using captured rainwater, could see a greywater harvesting system pay for itself within a 3 year period. Government Planning Policies have for a number of years tried to define a methodology in legislation as to the best way to deal with storm water and prevent the issues of poor water management from re-occurring. As of the end of 2014, the industry is awaiting further information coming from the National Planning Policy Framework, which, it is believed, will put the emphasis on storm water control and management at a local level. This will mean that Local Authorities will manage and decide upon their best course of action for managing their water-runoff. The use of large storm water tanks offer a solution to capture, store and attenuate rainwater. If we take this one step further and consider using UV and Carbon treated rainwater for drinking, we are then beginning to have a seriously positive impact on our hea