Rain harvesting 1 - water from the sky

Earthship Brighton harvests all the water it needs from the sky. All rain water is collected, used and treated on site, saving on infrastructure investment and not depleting the overstretched ground water in the drought stricken south-east of England.

The area of the roof coupled with the average annual rainfall for Stanmer Park means that it can harvest around fifty thousand litres (50m3) of water per year. This amount is around the same that one person in the UK on average uses every year, the average being 150 litres per person per day. With the extensive water conservation measures in place this is more than enough to provide all the needs of the community centre.

The rainwater flows from the roof through two filters, including a vortex filter, into four underground water tanks. The roof materials were carefully chosen for their inert qualities, and the TPO membrane used has Water Regulation Advisory Scheme (WRAS) certification.

There is enough room to store twenty thousand litres of water, which is enough to supply Earthship Brighton for two to three months. We began harvesting rainwater in August 2003 and since that time the tanks have nearly always been full.

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