How to Create an Off-grid Water Connection?

'Living off-grid' is a trendy statement that is thrown around a lot with very little support on how to become off-grid. Some methods are relatively straightforward, such as plug-in and go solar panels and log burners that can be fitted within a few hours to remove the need for central heating, but what about your water needs? 

Connecting to Water Off-Grid

Water is troublesome as you not only need a clean water source, but you also need to deal with the wastewater, both greywater and blackwater. Two very separate and usually frustrating issues require a great deal of work before you can wear your 'I'm off-grid' badge.

"I've heard rainwater capture is the simplest method."

While we hear this A LOT and it sounds like an easy and very whimsical solution - unfortunately it isn't. The reason is you cannot predict the weather, therefore, you cannot know how much water you'll have each year for certain. Living without water is not feasible so even though we love joining hand in hand waving the flag of off-grid living, we equally have to consider the health and safety of our customers which is why we don’t recommend a full rain water system as your only water source.

For a deeper understanding, you can do the maths on how much water you use as an individual then work out the average rainfall in your area, your roof square footage and how much you can collect. Once you have those numbers, you’ll soon see that you can easily get dangerously short in the drier months, especially if there's a spell of sunny days.  

Next, there's the water's cleanliness as the stagnant water sitting in a plastic barrel can easily harbour all kinds of microbes, especially on a warm day that can grow into some real nasties that you most certainly wouldn’t want to drink. There are tablets for this, which we haven’t tried so we can’t comment on the taste or lifespan of the water once a tablet has been placed into the barrel (if you are doing this, please get in touch as we’d love to know!).

"So, what to do?"

Well, here's our suggestion,

Find Yourself a Source of Clean Drinking Water 

We always recommend to our customers that it is better to purchase a plot with a borehole or well on the land. If there is one close by, you could contact the the owner to use their water source for a small fee. A third option would be to see if your land would benefit from digging your own borehole. To do this you will require a geological surveyor who will be able to tell you if a borehole is feasible. Costs are usually around £7,500- £10,000+ VAT for a 60m borehole installation and will last approx 8-10 years. 

How to Reduce Your Water Needs

The easiest and simplest way is to use a composting toilet as this will save you approximately 24,984 L of water per person a year! Next, you can look into recycling some of your water including rain water capture for your plants, especially if you are growing your own food as they’ll be quite thirsty!

How does a recycling system work? Usually, it works by collecting rainwater or water from your shower and bathroom sink, cleaning it and recycling it for second use (but not as drinking water) reusing approx 3300L of water per year! It’s fantastic for the environment and easy to set up once you’ve learned the knowledge, but you'll need to be aware that you may have to stop using your favourite body wash or shampoo as a water recycling system can only clean certain impurities. Eco-friendly/ chemical-free products are usually more expensive but are worth it if you are setting up this system.

Here is a video of a tiny house dweller who has set up his own system!

What to do with your wastewater?

Grey Water Dispersal

So you're in full swing with a composting toilet, clean water is flowing, and your water recycling system works like a charm, but what about your grey water waste? Well, providing that chemical-free products have been used via a reed bed! 

Reed beds are an aquatic plant-based system which allows bacteria in the root to feed on the organic matter contained in the wastewater.

There are three different types, and each will sound as confusing as one another so rather than I explain it in gibberish, here's a link to the guys at Tricel https://tricel.co.uk/sewage-treatment/how-does-a-reed-bed-work/

How to Deal With Blackwater?

Blackwater is always a thing in a tiny house. Sure, if you are using toxic chemicals, are placing lots of fats and oils down your kitchen sink and have a plumbed in toilet, then yes, you do have to deal with your blackwater. This would require you to purchase a septic tank for this waste which will need to be emptied monthly for fee. To avoid this, we highly recommend using a composting toilet, being mindful of what you put down a sink including your choices of products.

Should You Collect Rainwater?

As mentioned above, rainwater collection isn’t suitable for ALL of your water needs, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t collect it. On a heavy rain day you can certainly collect enough for a short shower or 15minute washing machine cycle and every little helps when you are off-grid. It’s also perfect for the green-fingered bunch! If you love to grow food, you know how much water your beloved plants need. Rather than using your tap water, you can easily purchase a butt to collect rainwater from your roof. Winner!

What if I cannot access water?

If you can’t find a borehole and there are no clean water pipes to access nearby then you may have to be VERY organised when arranging your water needs. We would highly reccomend purchasing a shed to store large bottles of water that can be delivered to you weekly (check out office water bottles). Next, you’ll want to set up a rainwater system and a rather big one with several tanks to store as much water as possible when it does rain. Your next job is to ensure the water is cleaned using a filtration system before entering the house. You’ll also want to see if you can recycle some of your shower water like this guy is doing.

As we are not experts on the matter, we do recommend that you seek further help should to gain access to clean drinking water. If you need more support or advice to becoming off-grid, feel free to get in touch with us today - leanne@thetinyhousing.co