Hey Yulia,

You sound like such a resourceful person! I like it.

I'm very interested in the benefits of rainwater harvesting and found some useful info from LILI here:

Harvesting of rainwater is simply the collection of water for domestic or commercial use that would otherwise go down the drain. Various techniques have been practised for thousands of years to collect and store water, especially in areas of low rainfall. Today, rainwater harvesting systems can be installed in both new and existing buildings and can range from a quick, cheap water butt to a more complex system. Rainwater can be used for the garden, washing the car, showering, flushing the toilet, the washing machine, and even drinking if treated with UV light.

water butt: the simplest collection method is a rainwater butt connected via a diverter such as a rainsava (see below) to a downpipe from the roof - water collected can be used on the garden, using a watering can.

rain harvesting system: in a typical rainwater system water is collected from the roof and taken via pipes to a storage tank. A filter removes leaves and other debris and a settlement tank allows small particles to sink to the bottom; floating debris is skimmed off the surface via an overflow pipe, and clean water extracted from just below the surface. Water can be pumped directly from the tank to appliances or to your loft header tank. A float switch in the tank will automatically top up with mains water if the level is too low

drinking water: rainwater can be used for drinking if you install a UV sterilisation unit; the unit is switched on permanently and uses c. 40 watts. This unit will need two filters before the water reaches it – 25 and 5 microns, otherwise micro-organisms can ‘hide’ behind particles.

what are the benefits?

• rainwater collection removes the need for the energy and chemicals used to produce pure drinking water - unnecessary if all we’re going to do is clean the car with it or flush it down the toilet
• it also reduces the need for the pumping of mains water, and the energy use, pollution and CO2 emissions that go with it
• it reduces demand on rivers and groundwater: the WWF recently reported that over-extraction by water companies is damaging Britain’s wetlands and trout rivers. The problem is most acute in the south-east, where population is increasing and millions more houses will soon be built. 86% of an average household’s water needs can be met by collecting rainwater, without further purification (33% for washing, 25% for toilet flushing, 22% for car washing and 6% for the garden)
• other benefits: rainwater is soft, and leaves no limescale; washing clothes in soft water requires less detergent and so reduces water pollution from these compounds; plants love rainwater; it doesn’t contain chlorine, which is thought to be carcinogenic; large-scale collection of rainwater can reduce run-off and therefore the risk of flooding

Information from LILI:
http://lowimpact.org/factsheet_rainwater_harvesting.htm

In my grandmother's time they were collecting rainwater..Grandmother told us that they were washing their hair and bathing with it, it was so much softer and better.... until the AES Chernobil incident...then they began to loose hair and quited with it It was not relevant anymore... it lasted up to 90's, so since then nobody dares to use it topically..(in Ukraine, Russia). Maybe it's ok now...

I'll mention that "they", the industry people, polluted the Azov sea so badly, I still want to cry when I remember. It was beautiful, alive, with rich flora and fauna, because it's relatively small and concentrated, so many creatures, dolphins were coming very close to the shores...beautiful!!! and it was my friend, my comfort when I was a child.

In 90's pepole with white overalls came to pick up the dead fish in piles, it was covering the surface, like in a nightmare. You couldn't see your feet already across the shore-line in the water, it was so polluted. They literally killed it, killed the sea. It's metallurgic factories' waste that was thrown to the sea :'(

Association of polluted rain brought this to my mind. As a reminder. So dark, but as a rule of life after darkness comes the light ( nice and positive cliche ), so we will recover, or the world will recover after we're not here anymore.

Anyway, in Israel collecting rain is a little problematic (we barely have it here) and additional problem - living in a modern buildings doesn't allow many of the "eco-friendly" actions... But we can do our best in these conditions For example, we "collect" sunshine to warm the waters, so in summer we don't heat it at all. Here in Israel because we have water-problems, a good example of how small things, when done "together" can influence can be seen. That's why I'm pro-little everyday things

Nobody just pours the water away, even while soaping hands they shut it down and then open again. Everybody. We have this sensors in the public restrooms which let the water flow only when your hands are under the ...I don't know what it's called.. Also we pay for the water, it's measured here and we have fines for extra-water-usage from the mean usage per person. But I prefer saving it from awareness considerations, rather than money, these jews

Also recycling of grey water keeps progressing here. We use it for gardening, agriculture, etc

Israelis really do their best with the water..

Sorry for a little sadness in the beginning,
Yulia

I was thinking, or more feeling...

What was going on when people didn't have power..

They probably would wake up as early as the light was "waking up" with the rest of the world, and after it was dark they would maybe sit for a while with a fire or a candle and then go to sleep when the world is going to sleep.

This is how the circadian rhythm is regulated by zeitbegers - external conditions that synchronises the internal time-regulation - the most important and strongly affecting is sun-light (or light) by melatonin and serotonin production. Other zeitbegers can be temperature (when it's cold, we would want to sleep more), food - eating heavy mails at night usually don't encourage good sleep, for humans these are most important...

Now back to light..

Electrical light doesn't have the radiation spectrum of the sun-light, but still, surely affecting the body. For example, try to get up at night and turn up the light. I assure you, it will pretty interfere your further sleep..

Besides the biochemical processes there are other processes that might influence the natural rhythms of the body, as a part of the Nature's rhythm.

For example, in my family we all are sensitive to a weather, it's very strongly influencing our condition - we always feel heat waves (khamsin) coming about two days earlier - we feel not so great physically, rains (legs and arms aches)..

So, I said, why not recover the natural rhythms (if it's possible).

I think that I definitely can try it - gradually shift my hours and try not to use power after it's dark outside, but rather use candles for a soft light.

In addition, I think that fire is very different in it's energy from electricity.

Many consider candles and fire as an energy purifiers. I don't know anything about it, but I feel it's calming,pleasant, beautiful and magnetic.

I can't make a camp fire in the shared building, but if I had a house with an option, I would try to light a fire once in a while.

In short, I'm about to make an experiment with this one, I'm so excited

Of course, it's not going to be a fix, like I won't turn of the lights on the street but more of checking this up - getting synchronised with the natural external rhythms and finding my own natural rhythm during this experiment.. dancing with the nature...

This video is about water crisis, another crisis the current lifestyle is heading to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrk9eHNeohw&feature=related

It discusses all the possible ways in which we interfere and influence the water cycle on Earth...

Unbelievable, at the moment humanity is like a disease, a parasite, destroying the host and itself with it.

I find it important to add, that even though the video is talking about what they do, it is actually about what I do.

If we don't buy - they don't sell, if they don't sell, they don't produce, and then it's over. Somebody should break the loop, and it is ridiculous to hope they will. So I see in it an opportunity to look actually at ourselves and at the choices we make every day, at the products we buy and use, at what WE do.

And it is everywhere and everything, what water we drink, what food we eat, what we wear, wash ourselves with, how we spend our free time, where we go and how, even what we do in the evenings - sleep or stay awake, it is just everything.

Seems like there is not much choice left, but to burst the bubble of denial and comfort and start taking responsibility and find some alternative ways...

Well said Yulia!

Chris