An article in the Irish times last week looked at how Copenhagen microbrewer Nørrebro Bryghus collected 54,000 litres of urine from festival-goers in order to make a beer caller “Pisner”. The urine was transformed into fertiliser and yielded it into 11 tonnes of malting barley. After harvesting and brewing the malting barley, the beer will hit the […]
WISER Life Case Study: A composting system that uses standard flush toilets
Project: WISER Life at the Rediscovery Centre Where: Ballymun, Dublin, Ireland When: March 2017 While Ireland is being taken to court by the European Commission over its inadequate waste water treatment in over 30 urban areas, the new Rediscovery Centre building in Ballymun has undertaken to treat its own waste water on an independent basis […]
Treating Grey Water from a busy restaurant in Ireland using a Herr Reed Bed; to be recycled and reused safely for toilet flushing
A Working Example in Dublin A Herr Reed Bed System was installed in 2013 to treat the grey water at the Airfield Trust farm in Dundrum, Dublin, Ireland in 2013. Airfield has 40 acres of fields, farm animal enclosures, formal gardens and a visitor centre for the many day visitors who arrive at this family-friendly […]
San Francisco treats and recycles grey water – so should Ireland
San Francisco in the USA now requires the treatment of grey water for the purpose of recycling. In Ireland also we permit the treatment and recycling of grey water for re use for toilets. The water stress crisis in California is causing problems for this USA State. Climate change is causing lower snow accumulation on mountains in recent […]
The “Polluter Pays Principle” should permit home owners to “avoid” making waste water pollution
In a headline article in The Irish Times on the 1st June 2016, it states that the abolition of the charges would put Ireland in breach of European rules on the water framework directive and Europe’s “polluter pays” principle. What is the Polluter Pays Principle? In 1992 at the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development […]
Irish Glass Bottle site in Dublin: decentralised waste water
Should a system to permanently reduce Irish Water charges be provided for the Irish Glass Bottle site in Dublin? In a recent Irish Times article, Ronan McGreevy writes “Irish Water says households are still liable for bills. Utility states customers must pay outstanding balances despite suspension of charges”. Olivia Kelly, also for the Irish Times, reports: “The redevelopment […]
Irish Water needs to address a wider set of environmental goals than simply water treatment and leaking pipes when spending tax payers money
In Cliff Taylor’s recent Irish Times article, “Water deal thwarts new way to raise money for infrastructure“, he summarizes his article by saying that the likely compromise between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will either mean less money for water or less for other areas of economy. How will any future investment in Irish Water […]
Using less water and making less waste water pollution
The motivation to spend extra money for environmental reasons only is often not there, even for so-called environmentalists. Why would a new family whose budget is very tight choose to spend money on a system to reduce their mains water consumption, if the mains water was available for free anyway? This question however is more relevant […]
Cost factors of installing a rain water harvesting system
It’s inevitable that mains water will be eventually charged to domestic consumers in Ireland. Let’s assume that the charges will be high enough to justify installing a rain water harvesting system over a period of 25 years. The following measures would help to lower and to justify the cost for the fully installed rainwater harvesting system: […]
Charging for Water – the economic arguments – a limited resource
If economics were to be the predominant or deciding factor then no one would invest in their own domestic water rainwater system. This is especially so while the mains water supply was so freely available and without cost. So it’s safe to say that it will never be economically worthwhile to spend money on your […]