The “Water Organizing Module” (WOM), as described in the sources, is a key component of a sustainable water management system, primarily by enabling rainwater harvesting and filtration for various household needs. Here’s how it contributes to sustainability:
●
Promotes Water Independence: The WOM facilitates a move away from reliance on municipal water grids by allowing homeowners to collect, filter, and pressurize rainwater for their use. This reduces the strain on public water infrastructure and lessens the impact of potential water shortages or contamination events on individual households.
●
Reduces Chemical Consumption: By filtering rainwater to a potable standard, the WOM eliminates the need for chemical treatment, providing a healthier and more natural water source for consumption.
●
Supports Localized Water Cycles: The sources emphasize that using locally harvested rainwater helps maintain natural water cycles. Instead of drawing water from distant sources and potentially disrupting ecosystems, the WOM encourages a closed-loop system where water collected from the property is used and naturally returned to the local environment.
●
Offers Cost Savings: While the initial investment for setting up a WOM and a rainwater harvesting system is significant (around $1,000 according to the sources), the long-term cost savings on water bills can be substantial, potentially offsetting the initial costs within a few years.
●
Provides Resilience and Security: In the event of power outages, the gravity-fed design of the cistern, coupled with the WOM’s plumbing configuration, ensures a continued supply of water for essential functions like toilet flushing and handwashing.
Functionally, the WOM serves as the central hub for processing and distributing the harvested rainwater:
●
Filtration: The WOM houses a series of progressively finer filters (50 mesh, 500 mesh, and 1000 mesh), along with a dedicated drinking water filter (6-cone ceramic or UV), to remove sediments, debris, and harmful contaminants, ensuring water quality meets safety standards.
●
Pressurization: Equipped with a pump and pressure tank, the WOM pressurizes the filtered water to meet building code requirements, allowing it to be distributed throughout the house for typical uses like showering, washing, and flushing toilets.
●
Integration: The WOM is designed to be integrated with various water sources, including cisterns, wells, and even municipal water supplies, offering flexibility and redundancy in water sourcing.
The sources emphasize the relative simplicity and durability of the WOM, highlighting its minimal maintenance requirements, which primarily involve regular filter cleaning. They also provide detailed instructions and parts lists for assembling and installing a WOM, encouraging a DIY approach.
Overall, the WOM plays a crucial role in achieving sustainable water management goals by enabling a shift towards self-sufficiency, reducing reliance on centralized and potentially unsustainable water sources, and promoting responsible water use practices.
Ever stop to think how much water you use every day? The average American household, they use a crazy amount, like, 80 to a 100 gallons. And, you know, the funny thing is, most of that isn’t even for drinking. Really puts things in perspective. Right?
The convenience we have, just turning a tap and getting water, it’s pretty amazing. But it makes you wonder, could we be doing this better? Sourcing and using water, I mean, especially when it comes to our homes. Totally. And that’s actually what we’re looking at today, the idea of water autonomous homes.
We’ve been going through excerpts from Atanja Builders. They’re experts in sustainable building. And they’re really into this idea of, get this, rainwater harvesting. So, basically, your roof is not just a roof anymore. It’s, like, this giant rain collector.
Mhmm. It’s such an elegant solution when you think about it. The roof acts as a big catchment, directs the rainwater into a natural filtration, and then it all goes into storage. Okay. I gotta say, I’m intrigued.
Walk me through how this works. Pangaea Builders, they have this 3 part Catchment, silk catch, and then the cisterns. The roofs, the catchment, obviously, but what’s next? Okay. So the rainwater, normally, we would just run off.
But in this system, it’s channeled toward the silk catch. Think of it like a giant strainer, basically. Super important for getting rid of leaves, twigs, anything that could clog things up or mess with the water quality. Gotcha. So it’s all about making sure that the water that ends up getting stored is, you know, clean already.
Exactly. So the water passes through the silk catch and then it goes into the cisterns. They have these big underground tanks that hold all that rainwater. And get this, Pangea Builders actually talks about using these cisterns as part of a building’s interior design. Wait.
So you could have, like, a built in waterfall that’s also part of your water storage system? That’s amazing. Right. It’s not just a cool design feature either, though. Indoor cisterns, they can actually act like thermal mass, helping to regulate the building’s temperature naturally.
It’s like the definition of sustainable design. Okay. That’s so cool. So we’ve got all this rainwater being collected, but how do you even start to figure out how much storage you actually need? This is where it gets really interesting.
Pangaea Builders, they’ve got this formula for calculating the rainwater supply you can expect. It all comes down to 2 main things, the size of the roof and, of course, how much rain you get in a year. Okay. For our listeners who are like, wait. What?
Well, let’s go through an example here. Let’s say you’ve got a pretty standard 1,000 square foot roof and you’re in a place that gets, I don’t know, around 6 inches of rain a month, which is like, what, 72 inches a year? Perfect example. So Pangaea Builder says that each square foot of roof can usually collect about 0.62 gallons per inch of rain. So you multiply that by the roof size we’re talking about and then by the yearly rainfall.
Hold on. Let me grab my calculator. Oh, okay. This is kinda blowing my mind. But we’re talking about the potential to collect over 44,000 gallons of water a year.
That’s insane. It really makes you realize how much water we could be harnessing. To put that number in perspective, think about it per day. If you divide that by 365 That’s like a 122 gallons of water a day. Wow.
Okay. So now I’m really curious to see how that compares to how much water people actually use. Didn’t Pangaea Builders do some research on that, like comparing a regular home to a sustainable one? Yeah. They did.
And it’s kind of an moment for a lot of people. Let’s stick with our example, a wetter climate, a 2 person household. Even with the rainwater harvesting, they’d only have, like, 5 gallons left over each day. Wow. That’s cutting it close.
Yeah. Especially compared to a sustainable home with the same setup, they would have a surplus of over 90 gallons a day. Now that’s the difference. I think this really shows how much we take water for granted, for sure. And it shows why it’s so important to think about water efficiency from the get go no matter where you live.
It really makes you think about those, you know, those droughts you were talking about and all the water restrictions. That buffer from a rainwater harvesting system seems like it would be a game changer. Totally. And those calculations we were looking at, that was just for 2 people. Imagine a bigger family or even like a department building.
The benefits are huge. Makes sense. But it got me thinking, what about places that don’t get as much rain? Like, is rainwater harvesting even a thing in drier climates? That’s a great question.
And Pangaea Builders, they actually talk about that. They say that, yeah, a wetter climate definitely makes it easier. But even in drier areas, you can still make rainwater harvesting work. You just have to tweak it a bit. Like, what kind of tweaks?
Bigger cisterns maybe? Exactly. You need more storage capacity if you’re not getting as much rain. Panggbuilders even mentioned some cool design ideas, like adding gutters to the front of a building, not just the roof, to catch even more water. So even those little bits of rain, you’re trying to grab them.
What about other things? Like, would you have to change how you use water in a drier climate? Oh, for sure. Water conservation becomes super important. You’re looking at things like low flow shower heads and toilets, energy efficient appliances, even just being more aware of how much water you’re using every day.
It’s all about realizing that every drop counts. Right. Right. Okay. So we’ve got the collecting part down.
We’ve talked about storing water even in different climates. But, before we can actually use any of this water, there’s a whole filtration thing. Right? It’s rainwater after all. Totally.
Can’t forget about that. That’s where the really cool part comes in, the water organizing module. Pangea Builders calls it the WUM. The WUM. Sounds kinda futuristic.
Okay. Break it down for me. What is it exactly? Think of it this way. The WUM is like the brain and the heart of your water system all in one.
It takes that collected rainwater from the cisterns and make sure it’s safe to use all over the house. Okay. That’s a pretty good way to put it. So I’m guessing it involves filters of some kind? You got it.
Mhmm. Pangaea Builders really stresses that you need a multistage filtration process. First, the WUM has a simple mesh filter. It catches any big stuff that might have made it past the silt catch. It’s all about protecting your pipes and appliances.
Yeah. No one wants a clogged shower head. Okay. So after that first filter, then what? That’s where the serious purification happens.
The water goes through even finer filters, usually ceramic ones, sometimes even a UV light system that gets rid of bacteria and stuff like that, so the water is actually good enough to drink. Wow. So it’s like this whole layered defense system for making sure the water is super clean. Wait. Are you saying this rainwater is actually drinkable?
That’s the whole point. A good rainwater harvesting system can do that. And Pangea Builders actually recommends going one step further. They often include a separate faucet just for drinking water supplied directly from the WAM. Hold on.
So you could have, like, extra pure water that’s just for drinking and cooking? Exactly. It gives you total control over how you’re using your water. Love it. This whole concept is amazing.
It seems like it’s not just about sustainability. It’s also about having healthy water. For sure. And that’s something people don’t always think about. One of the big pluses of rainwater harvesting is that the water is super pure.
Right. No chlorine, no fluoride, just clean rainwater that’s been filtered really well. Exactly. A lot of people are concerned about the long term effects of the chemicals in regular tap water, so this is a big deal for them. It’s like having your own personal spring right in your house.
So we’ve covered the environmental stuff, the health benefits, anything else. Any other perks to having your own water system? Definitely. One of the biggest ones is water security. When you have your own rainwater harvesting setup, you’re not completely reliant on the city water, you know, the grid.
Things happen, storms, power outages, even just problems with the pipes, and suddenly you don’t have water. Right. I didn’t even think about that. No more of those boil water advisories or worrying about water main breaks. You’re in control.
That peace of mind, that’s gonna be worth something. Totally. And that independence, it ties into the whole environmental picture too. Think about those big water treatment plants and all the pipes. They use a ton of energy and resources.
If more people use rainwater, it would lighten the load on the whole system. And it means less stress on those water sources that are already being pushed to the limit, especially in those places that are prone to drought. It’s not just about having enough water for ourselves. It’s about being aware that water is precious. Absolutely.
It’s about shifting our whole mindset. Instead of taking water for granted, we need to start thinking about it more like, you know, stewards. I like that. Now I know setting up a rainwater harvesting system, it’s an investment upfront. But I think Pangea Builders said something about saving money in the long run.
Right? They did. And this is one of those things where you you gotta look at the big picture. Mhmm. Yeah.
The initial cost of putting in the system, it’s there, but then you gotta think about the savings over time. Yeah. Right? Like, over time, you’re basically offsetting what you would have paid for your water bill. I see.
And those rates, they just keep going up. Exactly. Plus, don’t forget about the wear and tear on your plumbing. Rain water, it’s naturally soft, so it’s actually easier on your pipes and fixtures. They’ll last longer.
It’s crazy to think about all these little connections, you know. But I’m sure some of our listeners are thinking, this is great and all, but is this even doable for a regular person? Totally doable. Yeah. Pangi Builders, they’re big on this.
They say water autonomy. It’s not some, like, far off dream. It’s possible right now with the technology we have. It just takes some planning. And hey, even if you’re not ready for a whole rainwater harvesting setup, there are still things you can do to use less water.
Right. Like those low flow shower heads we were talking about and those energy efficient appliances, just being aware of how much water you’re using, that’s a big step. Huge. Every little thing makes a difference. And the more people who start doing this, even in small ways, it kinda catches on.
It raises awareness, gets other people thinking about it. It’s about changing how we think about water, isn’t it? It’s so easy to just turn on the tap and not even think about it. Exactly. We need to remember that water is precious.
It’s not just an unlimited thing. So true. Okay. So as we wrap up our deep dive here into this whole world of water autonomy, any final thoughts? What should we leave our listeners with?
Here’s something to think about. Imagine if this this whole rainwater harvesting thing, it wasn’t unusual. Imagine if it was, like, normal. What would that mean for our communities? How much more resilient would we be, especially with climate change and everything?
That’s a good one. It’s an interesting thought. Right? Communities that can take care of their own water, living more in tune with nature. That’s a future worth working towards.
And with what we know now, with the technology we have, it’s definitely possible. 100%. So to everyone listening, keep asking questions, keep learning about this stuff, and, hey, you never know. Maybe start planning your own water autonomy.
The post Pangea Podcast Episode 4: The Role of the WOM in Sustainable Water Management first appeared on Pangea Biotecture.
