This is my dream: To live as my forefathers once did - in harmony with the land that sustains us. A project to investigate and innovate the creation of a low impact home with methods of living in a form of permaculture designed to sustain my family and improve biodiversity. To leave the land richer than before and in doing so enable others to do so.

What replacements are there for main water?

Posted 20/04/08 by Matt B in the Questions category

You no longer trust the mains water but you live in a flat - what can you do?

I have recently spotted a new article by local historian and book enthusiast Michael Child of Ramsgate, Kent (UK). He reports that there are a number of "Drinking Water Problems in Thanet" and this raised a very good question.

What can a green minded person do to live off grid when it comes to the water system? Water is closely tied to the land and is part of the common thread of life. But if mains water is slowly becoming toxic what technologies and methods exist to make it safe again?

What if you live in a small flat with no balcony and kids? Does this reduce your options?

Clearly just running it through a water filter designed to remove common elements (like calcium (chalk), chlorine and friends) is not an answer. But what is?

Over to you.
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Comments

24/04/08 18:29:56 Jack [link]

.... Buy 5 gallon jugs? Buy a really expensive filtration system? Put rain collectors outside your windows?

24/04/08 20:59:22 Michael [link]

reverse osmosis or electrolysis both are mostly not economically friendly

26/04/08 17:00:17 Matt B [link]

Thanks for the great answers so far. I live in a high crime area and anything not bolted down is lost which means that the truth is there is no answer unless I move but I want to explore the possibilities. The answers so far given have shown the potential for a great discussion of technologies. Thank you.

@Jack - yes the question does mostly boil down to buying it (environmentally unsound) or collecting it. Does the filtration system need to be expensive or might there be a more cost effective method?

@Michael Thanks for that ;) I had to go look up reverse osmosis just to be sure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

It would require water under pressure of 40 PSI or more - not really suitable for a small flat and quite unsuitable as you indicate although the soundness ecologically is dependant on the material used - even so it does not seem like an idea that one could build at home.

I'm guessing that distillation might work.

One other thing: Isn't electrolysis used for making hydrogen from water? (I could be wrong).

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