Rainwater harvesting makes a lot of sense in Ireland. The IMF bailout obliges Ireland to introduce water charges by 2013. Along with an 'interim household charge', which is a percursor to property tax that middle income families are obliged to pay from January 1st 2012, we really are being slowly screwed as a nation. The EU and Global elitists who are the secretive bondholders (why can't they be named and shamed?) have their plan for Europe and it is to slowly squeeze every cent out of hardworking people and make the innocent pay for their (European bankers) corrupt and irresponsible lending practices. They are ultimately attempting to enslave us with their authoritarian agenda, that includes a police state for their protection. All i can think right now is Michael Collins is turning in his grave! They are dividing and conquering us with their slow stealth taxes. Careful enough not to shock people (the sheeple) into marching on the streets. Anyway, i am sorry but i had to get that rant out of me. Better out than in as Nan used to say. If my words aren't credible enough read the following article if you want to find out what the Irish Examiner has to say about the new stealth taxes.

Anyway lets fight these European dictators in our homes 'piosa ar phiosa' (bit by bit) and rainwater harvesting is one way of doing this and reducing your bills. As well as saving money it gives you control over your water quality. Filter the water and it will have no flouride or chlorine added like the poisoned water our state proviides for us to drink when we use tap water.

Not too long ago it was common practice to have a downpipe harvesting rainwater from the roofs of houses around the country. The water was stored in large metal barrels underneath each down pipe. This is the easiest way to start rainwater harvesting if you are going back to basics. A more advanced rainwater harvesting system can be viewed in the following video.

The more underground storage tanks you have the more self sufficient in water you will obviously become. Like investments in micro renewable energies and insulation please focus on the longterm savings after what seems to be costly initial investments. At the very least start with some DIY rainwater harvesting with barrels and downpipes method that our grandparents used.

Rainwater harvesting can mitigate localised flooding too during severe rainfall as some of that rain will be stored for future use.

Gutter Mate is a neat eco innovative product that helps with DIY rainwater harvesting using barrels (water butts). Available from Ethical Superstore for €26.20 (£21.95) in 'Home and Garden' section.

(Remember: buy from Ethical Superstore using Eco Homes and Gardens links to their site and 10% of your purchase price will go towards environment education programmes in Ireland.)

Finally, this short video shows how you can reduce the amount of water you use in your home and garden.