The cost of water!!!

deandean

A couple of days ago I was filling a watering can using the garden hose. I went to answer the phone and forgot about the hose.

24 hours later I remembered, and turned the hose off.

Out of interest I calculated how much Irish Water would have charged me if I was being metered.

The hose was delivering 5 litres per minute. Over 24 hours that works out at a water charge of € 32 :eek: :eek: :eek:

Gerobrien25

I would check your figures again but I calculate it as less than €4, its still alot but not €32

magicbastarder

5l/min is 300l/hr, or 7200l/day.
cost per 1000l is €3.70, so it works out at approx. €26.

Clearlier

Gerobrien25 wrote: »

I would check your figures again but I calculate it as less than €4, its still alot but not €32

I think that Dean is about right. This is what I calculate:

5 litre per minute equals 300 litres per hour (5*60) or 7,200 per day (300*24).

Water is priced per 1,000 litres @ €3.70.
7.2*4.88 = €26.64

welchywelch

This is exactly why people should be charged for water. You would definitely think to turn it off before answering the phone

Gerobrien25

Ok the €4 may be a bite out but is water not priced at €1.85 per 1000L?

alan partridge aha

Water charges are capped till 2018 so you will only pay up to the capped rate applicable to your household.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/environment/water_services/water_charges.html

magicbastarder

i would disagree with the OP that the cost of water is surprising - leaving a hose run on full for 24hr is obviously highly unusual usage, so is not a valid benchmark to use.
having a bath would be one of the most water-heavy single activities you might do in the house, and that uses 80l - so the scenario above is equivalent to having nearly 100 baths.

deandean

Yea, 26 euro it is not 32 euro,

I had the wrong price per cube.

This being the gardening forum, I'm just emphasising the high cost of using a hose: over 1 euro per hour.

(awaits incoming :rolleyes:)

Reckless Abandonment

Good thread to have.I store a good bit of water from the down pipes about 1000lt. All gone now ,if or when they start charging fully it's going to add up to a lot over a dry summer

welchywelch

Reckless Abandonment wrote:

Good thread to have.I store a good bit of water from the down pipes about 1000lt. All gone now ,if or when they start charging fully it going to add up a lot over a dry summer

How long would it usually take to harvest 1000 litres? Obviously weather dependent, but roughly?

magicbastarder

deandean wrote: »

This being the gardening forum, I'm just emphasising the high cost of using a hose: over 1 euro per hour.

an hour is a lot of water!

Reckless Abandonment

welchywelch wrote: »

How long would it usually take to harvest 1000 litres? Obviously weather dependent, but roughly?

It's very weather dependent. I've seen them go from near empty to full in a day once . but haven't had any real rain in about 4 weeks. More water storage is the answer but hard to hide another tank and this dry spell is rare enough

magicbastarder

i've seen a 100 litre water butt fill in less than an hour, during a particularly heavy shower.
it's an 'how long is a piece of string' question - depends on the catchment roof area you're harvesting from.
i currently have an untapped downpipe (it's cast iron, so i'll have to replace it to add a water butt) but i reckon on a wet day, a 200l butt would be full in an hour. there's several hundred square foot of roof draining to it.

welchywelch

magicbastarder wrote:

i've seen a 100 litre water butt fill in less than an hour, during a particularly heavy shower. it's an 'how long is a piece of string' question - depends on the catchment roof area you're harvesting from. i currently have an untapped downpipe (it's cast iron, so i'll have to replace it to add a water butt) but i reckon on a wet day, a 200l butt would be full in an hour. there's several hundred square foot of roof draining to it.

Reckless Abandonment wrote:

It's very weather dependent. I've seen them go from near empty to full in a day once . but haven't had any real rain in about 4 weeks. More water storage is the answer but hard to hide another tank and this dry spell is rare enough

Yeah that was a fairly stupid question all right but I got an answer. Here is an even more stupid question, How long would an average hose be able to run for with 1000 litres? I know it's got to do with the pressure the water is being pumped at, but roughly? Just want to see is it worth the investment as garden is big and has alot of plants that need watering.

Rabo Karabekian

welchywelch wrote: »

This is exactly why people should be charged for water. You would definitely think to turn it off before answering the phone

And yet ...

alan partridge aha wrote: »

Water charges are capped till 2018 so you will only pay up to the capped rate applicable to your household.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/environment/water_services/water_charges.html

Use whatever you like until 2018. Or if you're in an apartment until forever.

welchywelch

Rabo Karabekian wrote:

And yet ...

Notice I said "should" be. We should be paying for our usage to the local authorities, this Irish Water thing is a joke but thats for another thread.

iainBB

We have an Ibc in the garden 1000L but it's dry now with the really dry weather. Not going to do any more storage until the real charges kicks in in 2018. Then I think I will need 2000 to 3000 storage for garden usage. But we do have a large garden.

Spanish Eyes

I registered and I paid my bill. Didn't feel happy about it, but it is the law.

As a rebellious thing, I pressure washed the front driveway and the back and the two cars.

There is no incentive to do otherwise until after the election.

But when it is metered I won't be doing that again. Naturally.

Stupid having no incentives to save water. But then again, when you see the debacle that is IW who could blame anyone for cocking a snook at them.... for now anyway.

At least I registered and paid.

welchywelch

Irish water haven't contacted me atall, ever. I wont be running after them trying to give them my money. Thats the thing, it's not about conservation at all, even the conservation grant you can get if you use your own well and septic tank. It's a money racket but I do think we should be paying for the amount of water we use or don't use.

magicbastarder

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

As a rebellious thing, I pressure washed the front driveway and the back and the two cars.

a pressure washer is actually not as heavy on water use as people think. they generally use less water than a running tap.

welchywelch

magicbastarder wrote:

a pressure washer is actually not as heavy on water use as people think. they generally use less water than a running tap.

True. Mostly air that comes out of them.

magicbastarder

also, worth noting that karcher pressure washers can all be fed from a water butt. you'd need the top level of the water to be at least four foot above ground to get enough head of pressure though.

Calahonda52

The math on rainwater harvesting on the collection side is easy enough, in theory

Take the met Eireann rain fall figures: say 700 mm per annum.

This equates to 0.7 cubic meters per sq meter of roof ( how I love metric )
Take the plan area of the roof collection area and depending on the material say 70% runs off onto the butt.

as the usage figures drive the storage requirements the storage requirement really depend on what it will be used for and how many days usage needs to be stored.
HTH

iainBB

Calahonda52 wrote: »

The math on rainwater harvesting on the collection side is easy enough, in theory

Take the met Eireann rain fall figures: say 700 mm per annum.

This equates to 0.7 cubic meters per sq meter of roof ( how I love metric )
Take the plan area of the roof collection area and depending on the material say 70% runs off onto the butt.

as the usage figures drive the storage requirements the storage requirement really depend on what it will be used for and how many days usage needs to be stored.
HTH

Spot on. but with charging will also reduce consumption. When charges started usages per house dropped by 30% or so and then moved back up after there was no incentive to conserve.

We plan to use Gray water in the garden

magicbastarder

Calahonda52 wrote: »

This equates to 0.7 cubic meters per sq meter of roof ( how I love metric )
Take the plan area of the roof collection area and depending on the material say 70% runs off onto the butt.

that's total theoretical collectible - remove what you can't collect from when the butt is full; again, an 'how long is a piece of string' factor.