News — Stormwater retention

The renovation of an old villa in Devonport / Auckland was the perfect opportunity to upgrade the plumbing- and storm water system. Tony Koia from Koia Architects Ltd  decided to go a step further and future proof the house with a rainwater harvesting and a greywater recycling system from ALOAQUA Ltd.  Bathroom greywater (bath, tub and sink) will be collected in a tank, treated with the AQUALOOP system and reused for flushing toilets, the washing machine and irrigation. Thus saving between 30-40% of potable water and sewage. The RAINMASTER ECO 10 pumping and control unit supplies the treated water to the end users....

Currently and in the last month some parts of New Zealand had torrential rainfall, after previous droughts in part of the country. How can the country make better use of the rain? What is rainwater harvesting and how does it work? Rainwater harvesting is the capture, storage and use of rainwater. Anybody can do it and it can be designed and customized to suit the needs of the user (potable water from rainwater for example). There are several types of rainwater harvesting systems, the following three are the main ones: In-situ rainwater harvesting refers to the capture of rainwater where it falls. This system is useful...

Every dwelling, domestic and commercial, should have a rainwater harvesting system! Here's a quick overview what is required in terms of material in order to use the water inside the dwelling for flushing toilets, the washing machine and for irrigation. By the way, the Homestar rating system offers up to four points for dwellings which reduce the consumption of potable water in and around the dwelling through the collection and use of rainwater. Apartment developments are also rewarded for incentivizing conservation through individual metering of each dwelling. A water calculator is used to estimate the percentage of household water demand able to...

As the world's population continues to grow and our cities and suburbs expand, with more buildings to accommodate the growth, we are facing a major challenge to manage and protect our valuable water resources. This is becoming especially critical under the added pressure of climate change. The conventional and common approach to water management involves supplying potable water and disposing of waste - and stormwater. It is becoming increasingly apparent that this conventional, centralized approach must change in response to urbanization trends and climate predictions. As the availability of clean freshwater resources is diminished, it is becoming clear that in particular grey- and stormwater...