Welcome to ecocentre ecohouse water

Introduction

Australia is the driest continent on Earth (excluding Antarctica), but we are the greatest consumers of water per capita. Australians use more than 1 million litres of fresh-water per person each year, or about 24 Gigalitres. About 12% of this comes from domestic use.

The EcoHouse has been retro-fitted to harvest, conserve and recycle water. Key EcoWater features include:

• Harvesting and storing rainfall for flushing toilets (our major water use), and food garden beds.
  
• Recycling the black-water (sewerage) and grey-water (water from the kitchen and bathroom through an EPA approved worm-farm system.
  
• Using this water for sub-surface irrigation of the garden.
  
• A semi-formal floral display of low-water use, local native plants.

Water Harvesting

The EcoHouse project harvests all of the water that falls on the roof of the building. Storage capacity is 21,000 litre capacity. This water is then pumped and filtered for use inside the house.

Urban water self-sufficiency reduces the volume of water required to be taken from our natural water-ways. This water has important habitat value, supporting, river, estuarine and marine ecosystems.

Urban water self-sufficiency reduces the volume of water required to be taken from our natural water-ways. This water has important habitat value, supporting, river, estuarine and marine ecosystems.

Water Efficiency

Water efficient fixtures and plumbing are an easy and an affordable way of saving water. The project utilises water efficient washers, shower-heads, dual flush toilet cisterns.

Water Recycling

Black water (sewerage) and grey water (water from the kitchen and bathroom) are used in the EcoHouse as a resource rather than being treated as waste.

The Project Utilises

An Environment Equipment wet worm farm treatment facility for primary treatment of wastewater. This system looks a lot like a conventional septic system, only it has a bed of organic material containing three different species of worms that break down and consume the nutrient in the waste water.

This process leaves primary treated water in a sump at the bottom of the tank which is then pumped to 30 square metres of reed-bed. The reedbed is sealed with a bentonite liner to prevent wastewater escaping to the subsoil. This reed-bed contains several local species of reeds and other wetland plants selected for their ability to take excess nutrients and transpire the water to the atmosphere.

Water not taken up by the reed bed flows into a trench planted with citrus trees. The trench and reedbed are constructed so that no water is exposed on the surface.

A small tank is located at the end of the trench to receive any remaining water. Subject to satifactory water quality, this water may in future be used for toilet flushing or on the garden.

Finally, any overflow from this tank is piped to a 'damp' garden at the northern end of the EcoHouse.

The following local variables will affect the performance of the system:

• time required for plants to establish;
• seasonal variations influencing the process of photosynthesis;
• torrential rain resulting in additional water in the system;
• flucuations in the volumes of wastewater to be treated, eg extremely high volumes of wastewater generated in a short period of time;
• the overall capacity of the wet-composting worm farm and area of reedbed.

In response to these variables, and being located in a highly public place, as a failsafe, the EcoHouse system provides for wastewater to be directed to the sewer should this be deemed necessary. This facility ensures that it is a completely sealed system and that there is no discharge to surrounding environments.

Landscape

Today many people living in an urban setting take their catchment for granted and are unaware of how their run-off affects the environment. This lack of awareness has had huge impacts on the coasts and seas surrounding major cities in Australia.

The EcoHouse project has Zero discharge from a residential site (including the majority of storm water) preventing any nutrient rich run-off getting to Port Phillip Bay.