Saving water, contributing to saving the climate and earning money at the same time
The new rainwater system from INTEWA makes it possible
A practical solution that enables every single-family home owner to reduce water usage and save money at the same time has been developed by an environmental company from Aachen. With its innovative rainwater tank, INTEWA is creating completely new possibilities!
Most homeowners pay unnecessarily expensive municipal water and sewer fees because they use drinking water for watering their gardens and for the many different non-potable uses of water in the house. This is not only less than ideal from a financial and ecological point of view. Plants prefer soft, unchlorinated rainwater. In addition to increasing water rates, many municipalities are also charging a stormwater runoff fee. A comprehensive rainwater harvesting becomes thus not only important for sustainability, but it is becoming an ever-smarter investment.
While homeowners may like the water cost savings and sustainability aspect, they may be reluctant to install one due to upfront cost and the complications of excavating to install a cistern. With INTEWA’s new tank solution, these problems are comprehensively solved. With lower cost and easier installation, payback can be within a few years. The system can be retrofitted effortlessly in almost any single-family home.
Even though there are many ways to use rainwater in the home, this valuable resource literally goes down the drain far too often. This leads to many problems. With growth of impervious surface in our cities, flooding is becoming more prevalent. This increased runoff, means water does not have a chance to evaporate, leading to what is called the heat island effect. The higher amount of impervious surfaces also lead to groundwater supplied not being replenished. More and more as water demand is increasing, groundwater and reservoir supplies are being depleted. You can make an enormous contribution to reducing these problems by using a rainwater system.
Two-shell plastic storage tank
The INTEWA two-shell tankhelps address all of these issues. The novel tank, consisting of two halves are easily assembled on site, offers you two possible uses: as a 2 m³ (528 gallon) rainwater cistern or infiltration tank, both with a vehicle rating. These elements are made of 100% polypropylene recycled plastic using the latest injection moulding technology. The highly efficient product significantly reduces production, transport, and storage costs compared to one-piece storage tanks, which gives it a clear financial advantage.
Regardless of how large your rainwater system will be, this practical design means that everything can be delivered on a single pallet beacuse the two piece “clam shel” design allows for stacking which takes up a lot less space!
The two halves are easily attached on site and are completely waterproof.
Independently cool the environment by evaporation of rainwater
With your rainwater system, you can make an important contribution to minimizing global warming. In addition, you can green and cool your garden cost-effectively. With an evaporation of only 20 m³ you cool with 20 x 690 kWh/m³ = 18,800 kWh. This corresponds approximately to the total annual energy consumption of an older single-family home.
How the two-shell rainwater tank pays off
Rainwater harvesting in the garden
A typical single-family home with a roof area of 100 m³ (1100 square feet) can collect up to 80 m³ per year in Germany (21,000 gallons) and much more in other geographies. Assuming that you only collect 20 m³ (5300 gallons) and use it for garden irrigation, you will save an average of 5.00 €/m³ in municipal water and sewer costs; that is, a tidy 100.00 €/year. With investment costs of approx. 500.00 €, your system will have paid for itself after only 5 years.
Recommended sizes:
Roof areas: | 50 m² | 100 m² | 150 m² |
Cistern: | 1 tank | 2 tanks | 3 tanks *
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Recommended sizes:
Roof areas: | 540 Ft.² | 1080 Ft.² | 1620 Ft.² |
Cistern: | 1 tank | 2 tanks | 3 tanks * |
*exact dimensioning on the website of the manufacturer
Stormwater Infiltration
In order to infiltrate captured stormwater into the ground holes are drilled in the tank.
With the introduction of the so-called "fee splitting", your sealed area is often taxed with more than 1,00 € /m² in many areas. You avoid this by installing your own infiltration tank. If you combine the infiltration with your rainwater storage tank, you also save on pre-filtration. With a roof area of 150 and 1,00 €/ m² sealing fee you save 150,00 €/ year. A typical system pays for itself in less than 4 years.
Recommended sizes:
| Roof areas: | 50 m² | 100 m² | 150 m² |
Cistern: | 1 tank | 2 tanks | 3 tanks * |
Roof areas: | 540 ft² | 1080 ft² | 1620 ft² |
Cistern: | 1 tank | 2 tanks | 3 tanks * |
*exact dimensioning on the website of the manufacturer
One tank - many applications
Since the finished tanks are low profile with an overall height of 1.2 m, the excvation required for installation is not as difficult as with other tanks. In fact heavy excavation equipment is not needed. It is possible to install the system as a retrofit on existing drainage lines because the PLURAFIT pre-filter does not have a height offset. The filters and manways have extenstions to any burial depth. In this way, the system is individually adapted to your site conditions. While the omost common systems are for garden watering and infiltration, many other applications are possible. The tank also serves as a attenuation cistern; it is ideal for rainwater harvesting for indoor use and can even be used as a greywater storage tank. The underground, frost-proof storage keeps the water cool and algae-free. Collectively, as more and more homeowners install rainwater systems, the cooling capacity can make a significant contribution to climate protection and the resource-saving use of water.
