Posts: 100
Threads: 6
Joined: Feb 2013
I am starting to think about possibly of going the water catchment route with the impending lava flow potentially affecting the private water service in Hawaiian Beaches/Hawaiian Shores and since that is pretty new to me, I am curious if anyone has an idea what kind of price ranges we would be looking at for a complete system that could support 5-6 people. I know we will have to call vendors when the time comes for actual quotes but am curious on at least ball park numbers for a new tank, filter set up and install costs since I don't have a lot of knowledge in this department. Also anyone care to share there experiences with converting from pipe to catchment? I would be happy to hear. I suspect many folks will consider going catchment in the area since I believe the well is near Keonopoko. If the lava cuts off Kahakai I suspect water supply in Hawaiian Shores will be a big challenge since it is not a wire (electric, cable, phone etc) and probably a lot of folks are tied into the water grid.
Posts: 998
Threads: 30
Joined: Feb 2012
A catchment (10000 gallon) should cost around 3k. Add in a pump and filter system. Pump and filter needs to be installed by a plumber and may need a building permit (pulled by the plumber). Tank needs to be installed on a level surface that's been prepared with rock crush (levelling and creating a stable base) covered by sand (protects the liner from rock punctures). Preparing and levelling isn't rocket science, nor is constructing the tank from it's pieces (takes an afternoon for two people). Water line from tank to house needs to be buried (again, rock crush bed and sand to cover it, trench needs to be dug). Then the gutters need to be connected to the tank along with first flush diverter and an overflow needs to be installed.
Good point about the possibility of water supply disruption. Hopefully it doesn't come to that.
Me ka ha`aha`a,
Mike
Posts: 100
Threads: 6
Joined: Feb 2013
quote:
Originally posted by VancouverIslander
A catchment (10000 gallon) should cost around 3k. Add in a pump and filter system. Pump and filter needs to be installed by a plumber and may need a building permit (pulled by the plumber). Tank needs to be installed on a level surface that's been prepared with rock crush (levelling and creating a stable base) covered by sand (protects the liner from rock punctures). Preparing and levelling isn't rocket science, nor is constructing the tank from it's pieces (takes an afternoon for two people). Water line from tank to house needs to be buried (again, rock crush bed and sand to cover it, trench needs to be dug). Then the gutters need to be connected to the tank along with first flush diverter and an overflow needs to be installed.
Good point about the possibility of water supply disruption. Hopefully it doesn't come to that.
Posts: 100
Threads: 6
Joined: Feb 2013
Messed up on my last post. I figure catchment will be a real consideration as the flow could certainly take out the roughly mauka land of Keonopoko or enough people may leave to make for a poor business model where they may need to close the water company. Just trying to stay ahead of the curve. Once a catchment is operational I figure a once a year cleanout and filter change for maybe a few hundred a year in maintenance or am I completely off in what it costs to maintain a system once installed? What does the ongoing maintenance look like in work and cost?
Posts: 907
Threads: 12
Joined: Apr 2012
A 10k gallon tank is a good bet, and perhaps the minimum, permitable size. I would budget at least $5k for that, including parts and labor. You'll need gutters too.
Posts: 14,138
Threads: 424
Joined: Aug 2012
A 10k gallon tank is a good bet, and perhaps the minimum, permitable size.
I believe the 10K minimum is an insurance requirement, not permitting.
Posts: 7,790
Threads: 693
Joined: Jun 2011
Filtered water isn't necessarily safe to drink or use for bathing and brushing teeth, especially in the tropics. Birds will crap on your roof, rats with leptospirosis might too, and dead lizards etc will find their way into your tank. A method to sterilize your water is an added cost that many people consider "optional". The two most common varieties that I am aware of is UV (whole house) and reverse osmosis (usually only in the kitchen or whatever spout you designate your 'drinking' water comes from). If you add sterilization when you are building your system you will save on installation costs and future headaches. I think a UV system (whole house / 15 gallons per minute) is about $600. The UV tube has to be changed out every year (about a hundred dollars) plus the unit consumes electricity to do its job (each model varies on consumption) so there are ongoing costs with adding it. The sterilization unit is placed in line after your primary and secondary catchment tank filters because the water needs to pass through a 5 micron filter for the UV energy to be most effective.
I don't know how much reverse osmosis costs but they are very slow and home owner models only keep up with a small tank used for drinking water, and its not a whole house solution. Most people just get jugs of county water at the free spigots instead.
Posts: 252
Threads: 18
Joined: Jun 2014
I read about a filter system on another site called a Sawyer SP-202. It uses technology found in dialysis machines, filters to 0.1 microns (gets cysts, protozoa and bacteria) and is supposedly a lifetime unit - no filters to replace, just an occasional Back flush. No need for UV or other filter/sterilization equipment. A poster there on the BI bought one and is using it. Not cheap (I think I read about $800), but if it does what they say then it seems like a deal on the long view. The thing that would worry me is they have no US distributor or US phone number, no US Lab certifications etc... that I could find.
http://sawyer.com/international/products...ck-wash-2/
This is an interesting read about drinking catchment water from a Hawaii college professor:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/rm-12.pdf
Edit: now I'm confused! I went to the Sawyer website to read more about it and they say it's "Made in the USA" and it "exceeds EPA standards", yet they have no US distributors. They've got them everywhere else in the world.
I dug a little further and found their independent US EPA test results. Guess I should have looked further into this before posting!
http://sawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/201...rotest.pdf
Posts: 427
Threads: 20
Joined: Nov 2011
4K for the 10K kit at water works + 1500 - 2K for sand and labor.
Posts: 212
Threads: 13
Joined: Oct 2007
I've used catchment water for everything since we built in 2006. For some reason I am under the impression that the County does not include catchment in the permit process. They do not have any standards for approved systems and you wouldn't think that they want to be liable for them.
Jay
Jay
