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What’s something you own that has truly paid for itself?
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
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this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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Asklemmy
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I have two 10,000 liter water tanks in my basement that I use to harvest rainwater, and another 2,000 liter tank on my roof. From October to around May I close the city water and use only rainwater. I’ve been doing that for a bit more than 10 years now, and it paid for the installation cost in about 4 or 5 years. I also have solar water heaters, but it’s hard to tell how long they took to pay for themselves because I also have on-grid photovoltaic panels for energy generation. My energy bill is about 1/6 of my neighbors’, and the photovoltaic panels paid for themselves in about 5 years as well.
How did you get the tanks in your basement?
sloped lot. I put them there before the walls.
When you say "I close city water', sounds like you are also drinking that water? Sounds like a cool idea that I too have been thinking about. That water needs disinfection though
I'm not a native speaker. I just mean I use the city water supply when it's not raining season, and when it starts raining (about half of the year here) I stop using (and paying for) it and use only rainwater. As I wrote in another comment here, my city has a lot of natural springs and I get water for drinking there.
You drink the rainwater?
Not directly, but I probably could. I have nets in my gutters so insects and leaves don't fall on it and I have another filter before the tanks in my basement. I regularly do tests to check levels of pH, chlorine and other stuff. The chlorine tablets I use says it's used to make water drinkable, and I use the rainwater to cook and make coffee (so I only consume rainwater that was treated and boiled).
My city is in the middle of mountains and it rains a lot and it also has tons of public water fountains, so every weekend I just go to a natural water spring at the bottom of a mountain and fill some bottles to drink through the week - the city's water company do weekly tests on the fountains and every fountain has a QR code for you to check that fountain status.
I think that's a cool option for preparedness, but seems like a bit of a hassle compared to just using municipal water. But I'm guessing the municipal water is also fairly expensive where you live
There were a couple of years with extended drought season and the city’s water reserves got dangerously low and there was rationing. Since then, I got another five 260L barrels and tons of 5L bottles filled with rainwater under my stairs just for use on my lawn, garden, and houseplants. I don’t believe the climate is going to get any better in the future, nor that the population will get smaller or industry will use less water. Every year is hotter than the previous one. What I expect are longer and longer drought seasons, and I don’t think I’m prepared enough :P
Im my experience, the expensive park of the water bill is actually the sewer expenses. Are you on septic or do you use municipal sewer? Do you have a water/sewer bill at all in the months youre not using their water?
Here the sewer is 80% (so for every $10 you consume of water they charge another $8 for sewer). In those months I don't use their water I still pay for the sewer minimal fee (up to 10m³ water consumption, my average in the months I use their water is 18m³)
Filters, hommie.
I mean, I know, but wouldn’t those also increase the cost?
I pay $200 a month for water in the seattle suburbs, plus $180 for city drainage, and a one time $25k fee for hook up to the water system. So yeah filters might be a cost.