Why do water butts prevent reduction in charges?

[Ferdinand]

Strange.

 

If I have no rainwater draining off site I can get a modest reduction in my drainage/sewerage charges, apparently.

 

But if I have some of it going into a water butt (or rainwater harvesting) that does not apply? See attached or the quote below.

 

Why?

https://www.unitedutilities.com/globalassets/documents/pdf/surface-water-drainage---household-2018-web-acc.pdf

 

Is it one of these "spend money on max benefit" things (like targeting insulation grants at the worst offenders), where anybody doing something already will mean a smaller reduction in the load because it is already being diverted in some way? But surely hat would also apply to full use of soakaways...

 

(Presumably one disconnects the butts before applying)

 

Ferdinand

 

Quote

To summarise, you could be entitled to a reduction if:

 

Either:

 

• All the rainwater or groundwater from your home drains directly to the ground or via a soakaway

 

Or:

 

• All the rainwater or ground water from your home drains directly into a watercourse, brook or stream and does not enter the public sewer.

 

Or:

 

• You pay a third party e.g. British Waterways to dispose of your surface water.

 

Unfortunately, you won’t be entitled to a reduction if:

 

• Any proportion of your surface water drains to a public sewer.

• Only part of your surface water goes to a soakaway with some surface water still draining to the public sewer.

• You have re-directed your roof drainage into water butts.

• You drain to a watercourse, brook or stream via a public sewer.

• You have any rainwater harvesting systems installed at your home (for example, you use rainwater to flush your toilet cistern).

 

 

surface-water-drainage---household-2018-web-acc.pdf

Edited July 17, 2018 by Ferdinand

[Hecateh]

Yorkshire Water has a different policy.  Only if your rainwater harvesting is used in a way that 

 

If you’ve got a rainwater harvesting system fitted at your home and any water used from it eventually finds its way into the public sewer there will be a charge for this.

 

So water butts don't matter - only if you are using the water in the loo or whatever

Edited July 17, 2018 by Hecateh

[Ferdinand]

1 minute ago, Hecateh said:

Yorkshire Water has a different policy.  Only if your rainwater harvesting is used in a way that 

 

If you’ve got a rainwater harvesting system fitted at your home and any water used from it eventually finds its way into the public sewer there will be a charge for this. So water butts don't matter - only if you are using the water in the loo or whatever

 

it seems bizarre.

 

I would expect them to use it as a ever to reduce water usage .. apparently not, as preventing installation of such saving measures will cause more to be used.

[Temp]

They figure people don't water their garden enough so rainwater butts sit there full and most of the rainwater goes out the overflow into the sewer.

[joe90]

The rainwater butt is just attenuation, it depends on where the overflow goes, as they say if they don’t dispose of your rainwater why should you pay them?.

[SteamyTea]

Stop complaining, you pay £1.192/m³ for foul water, I pay £3.4150/m³. 

[Ferdinand]

?

[daiking]

Well, United Utilities have officially declared that summer in Manchester ends on the 5th August.

 

Last time they invoked a hose pipe ban in 2010, it rained non-stop for 2 months.

[daiking]

And now it is being reported that people are advised to use clean water for their gardens because of the risk of Legionella from water butts. 

 

https://www.gardenforum.co.uk/headlines/scientists-find-95-of-britains-water-butts-contained-legionella-bacteria/

 

 

[PeterW]

Egg cup of bleach once a week sorts most of the nasties in a water butt. 

[Jeremy Harris]

3 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Egg cup of bleach once a week sorts most of the nasties in a water butt. 

 

Or buy some slow-release, high density, hypo-chlorite pellets, the large ones around 30mm in diameter and 20mm thick, and drop one in the bottom of the butt.  It'll probably last the whole summer, as they dissolve extremely slowly, yet will ensure the water remains pathogen free.

 

 

[PeterW]

@JSHarris was considering that for an underground rainwater tank. 

[Jeremy Harris]

2 minutes ago, PeterW said:

@JSHarris was considering that for an underground rainwater tank. 

 

Should work really well.  You can get a dispenser that automatically drops a pellet in every so often, which makes the system pretty fit and forget - just top the hopper up once in a blue moon.