Water From The Sky

We live in a time when many parts of our planet are experiencing water shortages.
The volume of water on this planet is finite while human populati on rampantly increases. As we gauge
the depletion of our aquifers and the increase in population, we are able to predict serious water shortages in the near future.
To further compound this problem, we have polluted and contaminated most of our easily accessible
surface water and are beginning to contaminate the more difficult to access aquifers beneath the surface of the Earth. We bring about this contamination through our disposal methods of' once
us ed water.
Pollution and waste from humans spill into our water sources. This causes public health hazards and
"dead" lakes and rivers. The future promises a growing shortage of fresh water and an increasing level
of water contamination if our methods of water use and disposal continue as they are now . As humans,
we are at a critical juncture regarding water on this planet. We need to reconsider the way we acquire,
distribute, use and "dispose" of our finite water supply.
The information in this book is being presented in an effort to provide a currently applicable game
plan to affect the availability and quality of water now and in the future. It is the result of thirty years
of experience in global research and development of sustainable systems for residential buildings. The
system presented here is in operation in many homes and has been under observation by New Mexico
officials for several years.
Michael Reynolds
On an abused planet,
we cannot afford to continue
to base the future on convention.
There's a well driller in Taos, New Mexico

who's been a well driller all his lite. He's
probab l.r:J late titties, earl.r:J sixties. His dad
lett a well drilling business to him, so he has
been in well drilling since he cou ld comprehend. Awell driller knows, he knows the
water around Taos Cou nt.r:J, ot course, and
the water table, but being in a lo ng line ot
well drillers, .. . I think ma.r:Jbe even the grandtather was one too,. .. he ends up with a
water mentalit.r:J so to speak. He certainl.r:J
knows the underground water situation in
Taos Count.r:J a nd he knows the state situation - he's lived it ... and that causes him to
have a g loba l grip on water. You have to
respect somebod.r:J that has that time trame
ot association with the earth's water.
This well driller made the statement, in a
radio interview, that, The next world war
will
be tought over water. "
All examples of water harvesting buildings in this book are Earthship Bio-shelters
built from earthrammed tires. For more infonnation on Earthships go to . ..
www.earthship.com
There you will find many other books and DVDs on these building techniques.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Water - Facing the Facts
4 Water - Using it
2 Water - Conservation and
STORAGE
Cistern Locations
Cistern Size
Cistern Types
Management
3 Water -
DISTRIBUTION
Water Organizing Module
Harvesting
CATCHMENT
Roof Configurations
Roof Materials
Roof Modifications for Extremes
Roof Retrofitting for E xisting Structures
CLEANING
Debris Traps
5 Water - Reusing it
GREYWATER
Indoor Botanical Cells
6 Water - Reusing it again

BLACKWATER
Outdoor Botanical Cells
1 Water - Facing the Facts

If there are energy shortages,
individuals will have water problems.
If there is ecological damage,
If there are economic crises,

If there are computer glitches,
Almost anything that happens in the future can result in

questionable availability of fresh water via conventional
means. This is not just an environmental problem. The
continued po!1ution of the atmosphere as well as the surface
and subsUliace of the earth is not the onJy cause for alarm
about availability of fresh water. Water availability to individuals is frailly dependent on every other social system
being in place, healthy and at peace. It is inevitable that we
will experi ence failure of one or more of these systems at
some potnt in the future.
If there is political turmoil,

If there is war,
Sustainable home in the Greater World

Community - Taos. New Mexico - aelial view
at left frontal view at right.
Water harvesting will need to

become an integral part of the
design of homes in the future.
The water supply that comes to a conventional kitchen

sink is vulnerable to every factor of o ur social structure.
Most water systems, whether municipal or private, are
dependent on electric pumps. When electricity is down,
so is the water supply. Electricity for t reatment an d
delivery of water is dangerously dependent upon energy,
computer technology and economics. These are affected
by politiCS. Politics is often subject to religious dogma.
The condition of these various inter-related factors of our
social structure in addition to climactic chunges and population growth can all seriously effect the avai lability of
fresh water for individuals.
WATE:R TALK
The
we live on this planet . .. we're like a c hic ken
standing in its water dish taking a drink and taking a

crap at the same time. We're
doing that on this
planet. Santa Fe and Albu9uer9ue, New Mexico have

been ta lking about
taking the Rio
Grande, which means that the Rio Grande wouldn't

Flow past Albu9ue r9ue. On top of that, the Rio
Grande is one of the most polluted rivers in the USA.
It's o ne of the top 10 most endangered rivers in th e
The a9uiFers beneath Sa nta Fe and
Albu9uer9ue are both damn near gone. I would have
thought that, in the arid dese rt climate like this, I
would almost rationalize or understand that. But
then I was in a taxicab going From Gatwick Airport to
London and it was pouring down rain the whole trip
a nd the taxi cab driver started talking about the water
shortage in London and I'm like ... "What?D
And it
turns out that the wate r reservoir, London's wate r,

comes From a9uiFers, a nd the water reservoir is lowlower than it's ever been. Here it is, raining in Lond on,
a nd raining almost all the time, and there'S a water crisis! Thatjust Floored me . . ..
Left - interior of a water harvesting home in the

R.E.A.C.H. sustainable community in Taos. New Mexico.
We must begin now ...

...,...,... Jearning to harvest water in each
individual home.
Water should be used many times before being put
back into the earth. When we do put it back, it should
be in a way that works with the existing nurturing forces
and phenomena of the earth.
Present day human life has static shelter that is dependent on "life support" systems running to and from individual units. For there to be a future of human life, we
must develop housing units that are of the nature of the
earth.
These dwellings must dynamically "be" their systems.
Somewhere beyond intellect,

things happen ...
in a beautiful way.
It is time for our methods of living to find concordance

with the nature of the earth.
Trees have found this .. .
that is why there are never too many trees.
WATER TALK
. .. and New York. New York is condemning
beautiFul tarms upstate to bring something
like a
toot in diameter water pipeline
trom the Cascades d o wn t o New York

and that's what
...
d o ing t o move water
trom one place to ano ther . New York

gets
+0
inches ot water a
the
trom
loo k ....
was in Martha's
On the news
said, "tlush
and then
were
chuckling on th e news station, "Well what

d o es that mean?" The.!} were having a water
problem!
u.s.
Water pro blems are all over the
and the wo rld b ecause we' re sucking it
o ut ot the a9u it ers and the a9uiters are

diminishing. Not
ishing; our
are th e a9uiters dimin-
ot lite - with sewage at the
other end ofour water use - is

luting some a9uiters as well as polluting
streams and rivers .
A tree doesn't need a support system - it is a system. A shelter of the future

must be this same way. For a system not to be static, it must be a contribution
to the world around it. There must be encounter and exchange between a system and other systems in order to be part of the overall system . .. the universe.
12
pol-
That which contributes to its

surroundings in the world at large is
constantly reinforcing the strength of
its own existence.
Sewage did not exist before humanity. We are credited with
having "invented" sewage. We spend tremendous amounts
of time, energy and money transporting sewage to concentrated sites where we then attempt to treat it. The "production," the transportation, the resulting concentration, and
the "treatment" of sewage is evidence that we do not understand the biology of the planet we live on .
All things in nature contribute to the essence of nature by
virtue of their being. By-products of one system are "fuel"
for another, all resulting in one overall system without
entropy. This is the difference between nature and humanity. WE DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE SYSTEMS OF
NATURE. We create garbage, entropy, and stress. We do
110t contribute. We tax nature while nature supports us.
At
some point we will tax nature to the point where it can no
longer support us. We will find that we cannot support ourselves without nature. We will fade and nature will reemerge
a world not subject to humanity.
!\ way for humans to begin to be more a part of nature's
"overall system" is for us to harvest water in individual
homes. Catch water (water harvesting) systems .in individual homes elicit low water consumption and go hand in hand
with greywater and blackwater treatment systems that contain, cleanse and reuse water. This is true because there are
very real limits to the capacity of a contained sewage system.
These limits are automatically put in place if a catch water
system, which is also limited, is the source of the water.
Simple calculations can be done to determine how much
water a conventional home needs. From these calculations,
one can determine if a catch water system will work.
However, there is a problem here that inhibits the evolution
of many alternative approaches to living. The problem centers around the "conventional home".
A con ventional home and conventional

requirements for water should no
longer be the gauge for deteffi1ining
water use in the future.
As water on the earth becomes scarce and pollution of that
water becomes more rampant and the human population
grows, water becomes more precious than oil.
It is life.
New shelter concepts will evolve that manage water much
better than conventional homes. These homes will be called
bio-shelters. Water requirements for a conventional home
will no longer be relevant.
13
water
collection
gutters
cistern -
greywater
greenhouse
14
n " ? \;;
t". ,',Lo
'3
iSJ"
:L.
2 Water - Conservation and Management

Path of Water in Bio-shelters:
Harvesting the W ater
1. Water from rain and snow melt is caught on specifically designed roof structures.
2. Roof configurations direct water through silt catching
devices and into cisterns.
3. Cisterns are positioned to gravity feed a pump and
filter panel, including a drinking filter that filters out bacteria.
4. Water is pushed by the pump into a conventional pressure tank and through the filters. Household water pressure with soft, filtered rain water is the result.
5. This fresh rain water is used by the home owner for any
household use except flushing toilets.
Treating and R eusing Greywater

6. Waste water ("greyw ater") is directed into a grease an d
particle filter/digester and then through a 30" deep, interior, rubber-lined botanical cell.
7. Oxygenation, filtration, transpirati on, an d bacteria
encounter take place in the botanical cell, all of which
help to cleanse the water.
8. At the low end of the botanical cell, water is directed

through a peatmoss filter and then recollected in a small
reser voir or well.
9. This twice used water is pumped through a charcoal filter from the well to flush a conventional toilet.
Treating and Reusing Blackwat er

10. The toilet water ("blackwater") is delivered to a solar
enh anced septic tank (called an incubator).
11. Water goes from the solar septic tank into rubber
lined. exterior landscaping planter cells set up very similarly to the interior botanical cell.
12. The system is valved so that all waste water can have
he option of flow ing into the septic tank. The septic
overflow is valved so that all waste water can go into a
conventional drainfield rather than the rubber lined exteri or planters.
The result is a conventional se wage system that

can become a quadrupJe use grey water reco very
system by turning two valves.
15
Water Use
Conventional Home vs Bio-shelter
In view of global water shortages and gl obal water con tamination, it is becoming increasingly necessary ror sin gle family dwellings to be designed so t hat t hey use less
water and produce less sewage.
Currently, in a conventional dwelling, wale r is lI sed only
once and then disposed of. Fixtures are in efficient and
often faulty. Large volumes of water are used and large
volumes of sewage are produced. This res ul t:) in a continuous and steady process of contamin at ing our "water
planet" rendering it less and less su itable lor healthy
human existence.
The conventional home itself has not hing to do with the
suppl y of fresh water or disposal o f use d water.
Individuals are often dependent upon municipal systems
for both water supply and sewage disposal. Mu nicipal systems are themselves vulnerable to energy, politics, economics and basic human nature. This leaves the individual
in a very precarious situation regarding something without
which he cannot survive.
The adjacent chart is based on data pub li shed in a report prepared by
Brown and Caldwell (l984 ) for HUn (Housing & Urban
Development)
16
WATER USE IN A CONVENTIONAL HOME

ITEM
GAL. PER CAPITA PER DAY
Toilet (1.6 gal/flush x 6 flush/capita day) --------------- 9.6

Toilet leakage (0.17 x 24 gal/capita day) -------------- 4.1
Showers (2.5 gpm x 4.8 minute) -------------------------12.0
Baths (50 gal/bath x .14 bath/capita day) ------------- 7.0
Faucets (estimated) --------------------------------------- 9.0
Dish washer ------------------------------------------------ 2.2
(13 gal/load x .17 load/capita day)
Washing machine ---------------------------------------- 15.0
(50 gal/load x .30 load/capita day)
SUB TOTAL ------------------------------------------------ 58.9
Evaporative cooling
Water Softening
20.0
5.0
TOTAL ------------------------------------------------------ 83.9
83.9 GALLONS PER DAY

(2) PEOPLE WOULD USE
WATER. TALK
So what a9uiters we do have lett are getting
polluted , in addition to the tact that we are
sucking out the a9uiters that would take
millennia to get replenished. I a lso have the
teeling that the a9uiters, t he bodies ot
water underneath the Earth, have to do
with the ba lance ot the Earth in man.:J wa.:Js,
kinetica ll.:J a nd ph.:Jsicall.:J and d.:Jnamicall.:J
a nd cosmica ll.:J, so tor those a9uiters to turn
into e mpt.:; caverns it could eFFect earth9uakes . .. cou ld aFFect all kinds ot kinetic
bala nce,
whatever, and it aFFects
ultimate global cha nge.
Left - Looking from the living room into

[he intelior horanical cell in a bio-shelter
type home.
17
Water demands for single family dweUings can be greatly

re duced by comprehensive man agement of smaller
amounts of water. By fl ushing the toilet with used water
and accommodating both interior and exterio r landscaping with used water, daily water consumption can be minimized.
Any .individual who has the desire to consciously conser ve
water can live very comfortably with u multi-use water
management system . Any climate thal experiences a
mean annual liquid precipitation or 8" o r more can support a roof water catchment system that when used with a
multi-use water management system can provide adequate water for comfortable living.
The budding "industry" of water col lection, use an d reuse
will someday surpass the oil industry.
More efficient compact cars were bome out o f an awareness of the limits of oil on this planet. More efficient and
different household water concepts mList be borne our of
an awareness of the limits of water on the planet.
WATER USE IN A BIO-SHELTER
ITEM
GAL. PER CAPITA PER DAY
Toilet
o
(no fresh water usedlflush with recycled water)
Toilet leakage (no fresh water lost)
o
Sh owers ---------------------------------------------------- 8.6
(1. 8 gal per min x 4.8 min shower time)
Faucets ------------------------------------------------------- 3.0
(cooking, cleaning, hand washing, dri nking etc.)
Dish washing (by hand) ---------------------------------- 2 .0
Washing Machine (J ow water use unit)--------------- 5.7
(20 gal per load x 2 loads per weeki 7 day week)
Evaporative cooling (none - thennally cooled) -------- 0
Water Softening (none - rain water)
o
Interior/exterior landscaping, ponds , pools
o
(none using fresh water)
TOTAL

(2) PEOPLE WOULD USE
The adjacent chan is hased on Item and Assumption" recommendalions from Brian Wilson. P.F Cl1ief, Water Use and CUllservation.
New \I1exico Slate Engineer Olfice
18
19.3
WATLR TALK
It's clear that we have a serious water problem
on this shrinking planet. So what I'm sa.::Jing is ...
we need to address this problem now. National
Geographic in the last six months or so, did an
article - the.::J must have had thirt.::J pages all
around the world focusing on the water issue.
So what the old well drilled said is right on ...
water is an issue and it could dominate. If we go
into the future with a method of giving individual
people the potential to obtain their water from
the sk.::J' then the.::J are in a ver.::J powerful position ... the.::J own their own sustenance. If t he.::J
depend on governments and corporations for
water, the.::J 're all going to be hurting. It's a vu lnerable place to be for man.::J reasons.
currentl.::J there are so man.::J middlemen between
us and water that it's too vulnerable a position
to be secu re in. Not to mention the frai lt.::J of all
the infrastructure re9uired to provide ever.::Jone
water at his home from a centra lized source.
Left - Greywater treatment

in a home in
rhe Greater World suslainable communiry in
Taos. New Mexico.
19
The water requirements of a "conventional home" mean nothing when it

comes to survival.
WATER TALK
So
shouldn't the home itself encounter the
environment and get water trom the

It the homes did it, then the businesses would do it
Efforts must be made now to evolve and demonstrate that

a healthy, happy life can be had with a fraction of current
water consumption. In conventional development, water
consumption for an individual home is calculated based on
existing abuse of water supplies . This amount of water is
then obtained by what ever means necessary. This
involves dams, wells, long expensive networks of pipe
lines and ridiculously expensive aqueducts. Manipulation
and abuse of natural conditions and ecosystems is the
result.
and water would be a direct line to people. Look

at all the politics and economics between people
and their water. Look at the
barriers
beh",een people and their water. It's something to

pursue tor
It's something to pursue tor
neighbors and it's something to pursuejust as a

g eneral concept that could affect the
ot lite
on the planet. That's the rationale tor us

make homes that get water trom the
to
That's
where it starts.
I;or this reason, we suggest turning the conventional water

lise concept inside out. Determine how much water you
can collect from the sky off of your roof and/or property
IIsing all the tricks that are available. Determine bow to
'> 1(m: all the water that you can catch. Incorporate the
IlltlSI efficient method of water use and reuse available.
IIV It) live with the results!
- Greywuter from houseltold rhrures and tropical lempenllllrt.'s inside this solar heated home provide a prime environment lor banana
III other foliage in "tile Hut House" in the Greater World sustainable community in Tuos. New Mexico.
21
Centralized utility systems hinder

human evolution.
When a municipality invests tax revenues in a centralized
utility system such as a water faciljty , a sewage treatment
plant or a power plant, it employs the latest tech nology of
the time and spends millions of dollars 10 des ign and build the
facility. In addition to the great expense, the process of manifesting a centralized utility takes several years. Due to the
great expense of both time and money, this facility will have
to serve for at least fifty years. This means lhat, even though
new technology may arrive on the scene, the people are
locked into the facility they have built ror fi rty years. This
places a fifty year time increment on knowledge, feedback,
reaction and resulting evolution.
the
an d e lTective phe-
nomena on the
adapt and evolve in
smaJl time
incremerrls. They are very simple yet individuall y....complete
These characteristics allow them to enCOU(1)ter a host,
dapt. reproduce and evolve in a matter of days rather than
ye-ar' . B acteria, which are fuel ed by viruses. are rapidly
evolj ng immunity to existing antibiotics as we speak . The
abilhy to adapt to changing conditions qui ck Iy is a key to
While bacteria and vilUses evol ve in a
of
massive utility syStems cause humans to
sluggishly evolve in fifty year increments.
22
On a planet that is constantly changing on its own and

whose change is being destabilized by out of control population explosion and illogical living methods of humans;
who is going to have the better chance at survival? Will
it be the simple creatures who evolve in a matter of days
or the humans who have locked themselves in to a fifty
year feedback, knowledge, reaction and evolution cycle?
Individual homes that contain their own utilities, inherent
in their deSign, can be built in a matter of months . New
homes are started and completed every day. This means
the concept of decentralized utilities which are inherent in
individual homes elicits daily feedback, knowledge, reaction and subsequent evolution. This alone is enough of an
argument to encourage simple individual decentralized
utilities versus massive centralized systems.
There is another argument that speaks for itself.
Decentralized utilities can completely eliminate the
expensive and invasive web of wires and pipes that currently deliver centralized utilities.
Both the manufacture and delivery of centralized utilities
put individual people in a powerless and vulnerable position with respect to security and evolution.
IIlV virus - background ar lelt
Decentralized living methods in the

future will allow faster adaptati on an d
evolution. This will place the strength
in the individuals and allow them a
freedom to make their own immediate logical choices relative to their
own survival and their relationship to
the planet.
WATER TALK
You could elaborate more on the situation that we're in
but at some point we have to look at how to do it. The
bottom line concept on how to do it is ... I can make a
perfect analo$ here that makes it
stand it ... the
tor me to under-
shelter has been in the past. ..
Imagine a tie ld with te n thousand teacups. The ten

thousilnd tea cups are all turned upside down and
are shelters , water runs ott ot them,
trom water. What I'm
protect
is ... water encounter is
the opposite ot the
we live and
Ideas ot encountering the environment, tor
ot the
lite, are
the opposite ot what we're doing right now . .. but in a

wo rld where
o the r
catch water,
and
in the re but
turn the teacups the
all catch water and

root is no longer a teacup turned
upside-down to shed water. Your root is a teacup to

-.i'ltch water and it's elevated and
tc,lCUP
or however
under the
want to visualize it but that's the
LiMe l-ence right there ... it
could imagine ten thou-
s;md teacups out there on a tlat plane, that's the
we
live. What we have to do is turn all the teacups the other

around and that's the end ot the problem .
23
WATE:R TALK
(
;"
f /
"
The basic co nce pt is just as simple as a

dog 19n9 in the shade in the summertime
and l:Jing in the sun in the wintertime.
E:ver:Jthing is that simple, so that's what this
book is about, taking the teacup and turning it right side up. It's still conceptua l, the
overall co ncept is that...
water becomes an integral part of the
design of homes in the future.
Curre ntl:J, the home ... (and this is the wa:J
with power, water, sewage, as well as heating and cooling) the home is nothing more
than a shelter and ever:Jthing else is
broug ht into it. What we're advocating with
this book is that the home becomes a n integral part ot its environment in such a wa:J
that it extracts ever:Jthing :Jou need tro m .
the environment. In that respect, a ho me
ot the tuture would not take an:J water trom
the planet, onl:; From the sk.!}.
The way of the future

25
WATE:R TALK
Peo ple piss and moan that ... "well
The ke!J part to making this work even in drought areas IS reuse
rooftop is going to
take some water that would have tlowed to a9uiters or to the

streams and rivers. "
Yes, in tact it does, but it's
The point is that
root is catching enough water tor
ofthe same water. You have a cistern tull ot water and
minimal.
able to pressurize it and then

so
use it to take a bath. Then
bathtub drains Into what is called a botanical cell and the
do not have to take trom the a9uiters. The real issue is how
botanical cell cleans up the wate r. S o the water From
use that water.
tub,
dishwasher , lJu ur washing machine,

but
There's a
that explains
water that tails on
how
get the
root to collect in a cistern. Your rod
acts like a teacup. You make it collect water. To get debris out
ot the water (sticks, leaves,
wings, dust, etc.) , it goes
through some kind ot silt catch device. The root tunnels the
water toward the silt catch device. Then the silt catch device,
whatever it
be, and there are lots ot versions ot it, takes the
particles and pieces out ot the water. Then it drops the water
into a cistern and
store the water in the cistern. The water
are
bath-
sink, From
toilet g oes into this botanical cell. This
botanical cell, in climat es t hat
have a winter, has to be
inside, because it need s a tro pical growing season all

Because the pla nts reall-y are the
The plants
I:r:m spirc ,
long.
treatment
tilter,
clean the
water. There's a lo t g;OIl1e; (l rl. but basicallu a botanical cell is a

'-
....
rubber lined pit , :Jnd I wlil g o IIlto the construction later. It's a
rubber lined p it- wdh
::lIld dirt and
plants. The
plants clean up th{, w.)h -r , n( 1t clean enough to drink, but

clean it up eno ug h
r(.) Ru,.,h
loilet with it.
then travels From the cistern through a panel ot tilters tor turther cleaning. A pump pushes the water into a pressure tank.
Now
con ventional home that's not on a municipal water

has a pressure tank to pressurize water that's pumped
up trom a well. So From the pressure tank on , it becomes a conventional
The water ru ns t hro ug h the! botanical cell and at the end d the
botanical cel l is
lected ag ain. Now I h l5 IS the same water that
took a bath in
The will'cr IS collected again, there's a pipe with a tilter on it going d ,,)wn Int(.) the well and water is sucked out with a
pump dlld it Ib
The pressure tank pressurizes the water and
have conven-
tional hot and cold running water. Ot course
would
solar hot water heaters it possible. But
d {;t'.p :=.p nt, a well , where the water is then col-
tc.)
toilet.
have pressurized
hot and cold running water.
Opposire - looking into an indoor botanical cell at night.
27
WATER TALK
when :Jou Hush :Jour toilet, a pump comes on to suck the used
water out of the well at the end of the botanical cell. This water
. was alread:J used once to take a bath and a second time to
This can even happen on a 9uarter acre home site. Conventional

septic s:Jstems aren't even allowed under three 9uarters of an
acre because there'S not enough room for conventional drain
water the plants in the botanical cell. So the toilet use makes
fields to discharge in under three 9uarters of an acre without
three uses right there. The water is used to take a bath, then it's
forming a marsh. We are able to do this in areas that have mini-
used for an interior lush jungle garden that produces food and
mal amounts of water and we've proven it in an area like Taos,
flora and more ... because plant leaves put out oX:Jgen and the:J
New Mexico where the water is limited. Out here on the mesa we
also filter the air. Then that same water is used to flush :Jour
have about B inches of precipitation a :Jear, that 's total snow
toilet and then the toilet water goes out to a conventional septic
melt and rainfall. You can multipl:J that times three or four
tank and conventional septic tanks usuall:J have a drain field.
because that's how much water we're actua ll:J getting the use of
Well instead of a drain field we put an outdoor botanical cell
due to the fact that we get four uses o ut of it. Soj ust muitipl:J it
which is another rubber lined pit. These are, most of the time,
times three, be conservative , that's 24 inc he s of wa te r a :Jea r. 24
shallow so that :Jou can grow lawns, :Jou can do extenm la nd-
inches is enough to have a catch wate r s!;lste m. whe n I first went
scaping. The:J can be an:J shape. So there. . . that same water
to the state with the idea of catchingw2lter In New Mexico, the:J
is used for outdoor landscaping. What :J0u're looking at is a sit-
said, "there's not enough rainfall hae, :Jow ca n't-do a catch
uation where normall:J a person would use brand new fresh water
water s:Jstem. " when I explained to the m how I W .;lS going to go
from an a9uifer to take a bath in. The:J throw that awa:J down
about doing it, the:J actuall:J helped me put- fig ures together to
the drain into a sewage s:Jstem and mix it with ever:Jbod!:J else's
prove that it would work. The first part of the concept tha t
shit and turn it in to sewage. The:J then would use bra nd new
people would have to get in their minds, it seems to me , is turning
fresh water again to water indoor plants. Then the:J would use
the teacups from upside-down being s he lter to right side up
brand new fresh clean water to flush their toilet. Then thc:J
being catchment ... with the people be ing hOllsed under that.
would use brand new fresh clean water again to water outside.
The next part of the concept is the pa th o f t he water, the twelve
And what we're doing with this s:Jstem is using the same water
steps of how the water is used <Jnc1 how It's used four times. If
four times to do these four tasks. You lose a little bit through
ever:J home and ever:J business we nt thro ugh those twelve steps
evaporation and through the plants ever:J time and b:J the time
and if the architecture of the buitdlng (t don't even call it archi-
used it for landscaping, it's over ... it's gone, so no water

ever leaves the site and this can happen in a condo or on a half
acre home site.
Opposite - an indoor botanical cell treating grey water for future
use 10 flush a toilet.
tecture, I call it biotecture) accommodated those twelve steps, it

would become a vessel that not onl:J shelters people but extracts
water out of the sk:J and gives people a life.
29
WATER TALK
I think a barrier between us and having good direction tor the
We certain l.:J can't base the tuture on convention and .:Jes, we
tuture is that we ... ever.:Jwhere I have been, ever.:J group ot
have to base it on invention, but to do this we have to give our-
people I have talked to trom all over the countr.:J and allover the
selves the treedom ot thought. We do have the treedom ot
world, the.:J sort ot base what the.:J are going to do in the tuture
thought . .. it we can get awa.:J trom co nvention long enough to
on the present and on the past, which I would ca ll convention.
think , but that is ditticult in this countr.:J or in an.:J countr.:J. This
Like the state ot New Mexico said to me, "You can't use a catch
gets me back to the thing I harp on a whole lot ... there have got
water s.:Jstem in New Mexico, because there's not enough pre-
to be places that are set aside on the lands ot the world tor
cipitation ." The.:J were basing their assessment ot this idea tor
people, without conventional laws or rules, to experiment and tr.:J
the tuture on conventional catch water s.:Jstems and conventional
out things and tail. O ne
use ot water.
wa.:J through all
What I'm sa.:Jing, with the population explosion
of t he biggest things I cou ld sa.:J all the
of t his is , "gimme a chance to tail tive times and
and global change and the wa.:J wr::'ve been abusing the planet
I'll give .:Jou a solution.ll Let me tail a tew times. Don't chastise
is, we can no longer base the future on convention . We have to
me, don't sue me, d o n't expect me to be a genius,just let me tail
base the tuture on invention. We have to be able to take a tew
a t ew times . even an idiot ca n le..a rn how to do something it he is
leaps it we're even going to have a Future. We're still holding on
allowed t o Fail a t ew Limes o n th e wa.:J.
to the past, but we're going to have to take a leap
at taith tor a
tuture. And some ot these leaps are going to cause us to tall
Just imagine t he
being in a London black taxi cab,
t lat on our tace. But this ... t his Failure, has got to be OK. We
driving in the rain; t-h(" windshield wipers are going on their
live in such a societ.:J that the states are even atraid to allow peo-
highest speed j it's ius/" d umping. You're in trattic looking at row
ple to experiment, because people were al lowed to experiment
housesj ust g etting pou nded with water trom the sk.:J all around
betore and some ot them screwed up and then other people,
and the driver is ta lklll5 :Jbout a water shortage! I mean that is
that experienced the screw up, sued the states and sued the
ott the wall. 50
co nstruction industries divisions ot the states, so our " law suit
o n? A nd then here we i:\re o ut in the desert and we've got
happ.:J" method ot lite is causing us to reall.:J get tweaked to the
banana tree..,; e.:rowlng f ro m harvested water.
Incidents like that . . . what the hell is going
point ot not allowing evolution to even happen.
Opposite - overview or a water harvesting home in the Greater

World Community in Taos. New Mexico with an indoor botanical
cell producing bananas in the desen.
31
WATER TALK
It we reall!:J encounter water trom the sk!:J' like with the teacups,
ot ever!:J thing. It's almost like a religious experience. Once !:Jou
rather than protecting ourselves trom the rain, we encounter it ...
begin to encounter things, !:Jou tind out that ever!:Jthing is avail-
and then we save it, use it and take it through the whole s!:Jstem;
able through encounter - trom water, to energtJ, to shelter, to
we are more individuall!:J empowered because ot this. It's the same
temperature, to companionship ... to ever!:Jthing. I alwa!:Js go
thing with people. It !:Jou encounter people, !:Jou are not shielding
to a reall!:J simple idea that is reall!:J general and reall!:J basic and
and protecting!:Jourselt trom people, !:Jou are admitting them .
Ialwa!:Js tlash back to that idea as Iam tr!:Jing to pursue a tech-
What an empowered humanit!:J we would have it we both unde r-
niCjue tor developing a concept. Ijust saw the teacup thing this
stood and admitted ever!:Jthing and ever!:Jone?
morning and I'll probabl!:J tlash back to that image a million more
times in m!:J lite because that to me, that one little thought and
This all gets back to something I call hunting. Hunting is basica ll!:J
that one little graphic, demonstrates perFectl!:J how to get trom
looking tor and encountering the essence ot ever!:Jthing fro m the
where we are with water to where we should be. We aren 't
p'l ants to the animals to the bugs to the phenomena to the peo-
changing the teacup, we aren't reinventing the teacup, we are
ple. The whole concept ot encountering is probabl!:J the co re
just turning the teacup trom upside down to right side up .
Factor ot sustainabilit!:J in m!:J mind. There are some ba rrie rs that
Imagine what the minds ot a bunch ot eleven !:Jear olds could do
keep !:Jou trom encountering and the!:J are pS!:Jchologica l, the!:J a re
it !:Jou were to introduce the teacup concept to them. You can
dogmatic, the!:J are whatever ... there are even ph!:Jsica l ba rde rs
lose people prett!:J Cjuickl!:J when !:Jou get too technical, but
that keep !:Jou trom encountering things. The process ot e ncoun-
ever!:Jone can grasp the idea that a tea cup sheds water one
tering an!:Jthing could open !:Jou up to the encounter
wa!:J and catches water the other wa!:J.
upposite - Earthships in the Greater World Community in Taos,

\h.;w Mexico haTVeI;t wale r from melting snow.
33
3 Water - Harvesting
A good formula for figuring how much water you
can harvest is as follows:
Let's say you have 18" of total precipitation per year.
That is rainfall and snow melt combined.
Let 's say you have a 2,000 square foot (st) roof.
1 sf of your roof catches 18" or 1.5 feet
of water per year.
Above - Warer h.arvesting roof in the Grealer World
I sf times 1.5 equals 1.5 cubic feet of water for each square fo ot of roof.
Comm unity in Taos, New Mexico.
A cubic foot of water contains about 7.4 gallons of water.

1.5 cubic feet of water contains about 11.1 gallons of water (7.4 x 1.5).
i\. 2,000 sf roof with 18" total precipitation per year would harvest 11.1 times 2,000 or 22,200 gallons of water per year.
R.oof area in square fee t x depth of total annual pr ecipitation in feet x 7.4 = gallons per year
,000 x 1.5 x 7.4 = 22,200
I>ivide this by 365 and you have how much water you can use a day. 22,200 divided by 365 = 60.S
\' HII can use 60.8 gall ons of water a day.
\\ per the information of p. 16, conventional homes use over SO gallons of water per person per day.
\\ per the information on p. IS, Earthship buildin gs u se less than 20 gallon s of water per person per day.
An underground water harvesting home in
renter World Sustainable Community in Taos, New MeXiCO
1(1'iltl! -
15
SUN
CATCHMENT
Roof Configurations
The roof of a conventional house is designed to
shed water. When the roof of a bio-shelter
becomes a catchment for water and snow, both
the shape of the roof and the roofing material
become issues. This results in a different look.
Water harvesting buildings in climates that have
Significant winters must have a large percentage
of the roof slopes facing south* so the snow will
melt and provide water. Snow on north facing
roofs evaporates before it melts and water is
lost. If there is a significant amount of annual
precipitation, this is not as critical. Some water
can be wasted in this case. Roof orientation
becomes very critical in areas with under 14" of
precipitation per year. Every drop of water
must be harvested in this situation so all or most
of the roof must have a southern orientation for
melting snow. Roof slopes are generally more
shallow on water harvesting buildings as you do
not want snow to slide off, you want it to stay
and melt.
All these factors play into the design of a roof of
a water harvesting home.
* This is the opposite for the southern hemisphere. Solar

orientation is to the north in this case.
36
sheds water
snow evaporates on north side

and slides off on the south side
CONVENTIONAL ROOF (above)

WATER HARVESTING ROOF (below)
catches water
snow melts and rum
SUN
"
WAT ER TA LK
Root size is the beginning. T he bottom line is that it ,tjou have seven
inches or more ot raintall a ,tjear,
then ,tjou can make this work.
Obviousl,tj the more ,tjou have, the
easier it is. It ,tjou have less than
seven inches then ,tjou \-vant to
extend ,tjour root size b,tj portals and
overha ngs and ,tjou want to inc rease
the size ot ,tjour cistern to make sure
that it doesn't ever ove rflow so that
,tjou ca n save ever,tj drop ot water
that ,tjou catch. The closer ,tjou are
to seven inches and below, th e more
,tjou extend ,tjour root as much as
possible. The higher level ot precipitation ,tjou get, ,tjou can take more
liberties with root design and do
more ot what ,tjou want. In a high
precipitation area !:lou could catch
water ott ot halt ot ,tjour root and
still be able to collect a sutticient
amount. So ,tjou get a teel t or
amount ot precipitation versus root
\ tended overhangs increase the surface of the roollor more water harvesting
I rum each rain or snow. If the roof is south facing, snow will melt and run before
II
aporates.
I
size tirst.
37
WATER. TALK
BeFore
get into rooF material,
get into orientation oF the

rooF. We did a lot of buildings
that ca ught water ot=F of rooFs
that sloped t o the north and it
didn't take t oo
bu ildings For
us to look up there and see that

the snow was sitting the re evaporating beFore it melted. We were
losing our winter water t o evaporation! So in an area that has
somewhat of a winter,
o rient
would
rooF slope somewhat
to the south so that the snow
would melt insteAd
of evaporate.
You d o n't have t o

iF
that game,
are in a temper-
ate climate.
As
awareness
of
local
precipitation and climate grows,
Above - \Vater harvesting roof in the Greater World

Community in Taos, New Mexico
building designs itselF.
Opposite - R.E.A.CII. community in Taos, New Mexico where snow was observed
to evaporate on north facing slopes and to mell and rlln 10 the cistern on south fating slopes.
39
CISTERN & SILT

CATCH
"
WATER TALK
Now we talk about the shape ot the root.
it's more like the teacup
turned right side up so that it's catching
water. It's not a shedding situation
more which makes it
that
important
do a goodjob ot detailing
root. You can make a tew mistakes on a

steep sloped root and
get a drip or
two. You make the same mistakes on a

root that catches water and
tlood in
get a
living room.
root-
ing gets much more serious, but so what?

It's worth doing. Then
are looking at
root and treating it like a

mou ntain
The mountains c hannel
the water down to a
stream, then to
a river and then to the sea. The root valdoes the same
the "sea" is a cis-
tern . The water is directed through a silt

catch beto re entering the cistern. Still
the shape ot the root is designed like
nature would design water tlowing down
Drawing above and real lire execution at left of a roor

designed like a mountain valley in the Greatt:r World
Community in Taos, New Mexico.
mountains to streams and then to rivers .

You make
root that
it's logic, it 's
tigure it out trom there.

Those are the criteria tor shape.
41
Opposite anti Below - Cement plaster roots with acryli<.: (;oa(jngs in

rhe Gremcr World Community in Taos . New Mexico
WATER. TALK
You can look at a lot ot examples that
we've done, but those aren't allot the
there are to do it. There are
ot others. We 're showing how we do
things . First do them. And second , do
them like we do them it
out a better
It
concept and think

better
can't tigure
understand the
can execute it in a
- go tor it. You can take that
too tar though, and
can
be
to second guess us. We've got a

tew decades ot experience so
can
take that into consideration too. choose

the best
This water book is aimed
at sharing what we've learned in

because we think it will have a positive attect on the water situation on the
planet. We 're not
this
we're
must do it
tirst ot all under-
stand the rationale tor allot our decisions and come up with better ones it
can.
43
Roof Materials
Roof materials are the most important issue after
roof configuration. The roofing material should be
a surface that will catch clean water. This fact eliminates many materials. The material that catches the
cleanest water and is the most durable, lifetime roof
is a material called Propanel. It is a corrugated
metal roofing material with a baked on enamel surface. There are other brands of this material but
Propanel is recommended due to the fact that the
baked on surface is safer in terms of lead content
than other brands.
The down side of a Propanel roof is that it is very
limiting in terms of architectural design. The nature
of the material limits or dictates the roof configuration demanding that it be congruent with the basic
details of installation of the corrugated metal
sheets. Valleys and organic shapes are difficult if
not impossible. At left is a Propanel roof on a simple building designed to have a slight slope to the
south and easy Propanel details. Opposite is a
Propanel roof showing metal detailing around skylights and solar panels. Both roofs are slightly
sloped to the south for melting snow before it evaporates.
WATeR TALK
There are a lot ot root materials
and ever!:) one depends on
budget, time, situation, climate,
location on the planet, etc. ...
It's best tor us to sa!:), "Here
are the roots we have tried and
here's what we have learned
trom them". Again, it !:)ou ca n
tind a better rooting material
that does thisjob, that's great,
assuming!:)ou understand the
concept enough to make that
decision.
45
Currently, one of the best roofing mateIials is a product called Brai. It is installed with a torch . The material is
melted together as it goes on. The granulated surface is then covered with several coats of tinted acrylic coating
(Acryshield brand) which does not peel off due to the granulated surface of the BraL This type of roof offers a
good roof with the most design freedom . The roof below was eight years old at the time of this photo.
46
WATER TALK
In the earl:J da:Js we used Brai rooting. You can look it up o nline.
It's a material that is kind ot aspha lt:J and bituminous. firestone
ma kes one version ot it. It co mes in a roll and :Jou glue it together b:J melting it to itself. It's a prett:J basic application - eas:J people other than root tech nicians ca n do it. I ca n do it, so that
means it 's tairl:J eas:J. You can do an:Jthing with it . We used it at
tirst but it was so nast:J tor cat ching water, it caught the dirtiest
water, so we moved awa:J trom it. We tried o the r rooting materia ls tor a while but ended up coming back to Brai atter we tound
an acr:Jlic coating, b:J accident, that wo uld stick to the granulated surtace. We had tried acr:J lic coatings on non-granulate d
Brai betore and the:J peele d ott, but appl:Jing the acr:Jlic o n the
granules, is ver:J permanent - it ca nno t peel o tt as easil:J as a
slick surtace because the granu les ma ke such an irregular surtace tor ho lding the coating. We reco mmend ACRYSHIELD
brand tor the coating. Though there ma:J be other brands, we
can o nl:J talk about wh at we have experience with - this brand
has not peeled ott on applications that are eight :Jea rs old. That
is a reaso nabl e situatio n.
Lefl - Installation of Brill rooring
Opposite - Eight year old Brat roof
47
WATE:R TALK
The
this all happens is ... we keep
more things and
we keep learning more. We went to EPDM , after ou r first

encounter with .5rai. EPDM catches cleaner water. Its a rubber material that's kind of like a n inner tube, it comes in a big
roll, is real durable, it lasts in the sun a nd is available in some
form all over the developed world . We use it for lining both the
and the blackwater planters these
the botani-
cal cells. We have done entire roofs with it, but the thing I didn 't
like about it was the g lue joints. Aga in,
ca n do most
shape, but the laps in complicated areas a re
time consum-
ingand thejoints have to be glued. After six o r eight

start needing maintenance. I've seen a .5ra; roof, the
EPDM
we do it now with the
coating, eight
later and no
c hange.
I have problems with EPDM when it is used
als. when it is
non-profession-
done, it lasts longer but that is
expensive. The material is good, it does catch clean water, but

at the same time it's black, so it absorbs heat from the sun. You
end up wanting to coat it to keep from
There are white and
Propanel roofs are often installed with a rubber material like

EPDM used for the valleys. The EPDM laps way up under the
propanel and is a much easier material to surface valleys with.
ho me.
colors on the market now but
expensive and require a professional roofer with EPDM experience. There are a lot of new
coatings that are
made for EPDM that even make it catch cleaner water a nd

don't absorb the heat, which
even make the laps last
longer . .5ut we sort of drifted from EPDM as muc h as possible because we tend to lean toward easier owner/builder techniques. You'll notice in the pictures that we still use EPDM for
critical areas and gutters of propanel roofs.
49
WATER. TALK
We have also tried out cement plaster roofs
which allow all the freedom of design .:Jou
can imagine but the.:J must be coated with
acr.:Jlic coatings and are subject to maintenance due to cracks. The best thing to do
with this roofing method is t o coat it with a
spra.:J foam coating. Spra.:J foam is ava ilable
all over the USA but not alwa.:Js in other
parts of the world. So what .:Jou a re looking
at is c hoosing a method of roofing that is
app licable to .:Jour part of the world in terms
of what is available. We have done a few
cement plastered roofs and have subse9uentl.:J coated all of them with spra.:J foam
whic h itself then has an acr.:J lic coating to
protect it from deterioration from the sun.
All in all, it is an expensive but d oable roof if
.:Jou are in the right part of the world and
have the budget and want the freedom of
des ign .
Above righ t - EPDM mof

Right and
- Cement plaster roofs with
spr'l)' foam coaLings
50
Somelimes EPDM is used for the entire roof. EPDM should be installed by
a professional roofer and after abollt eight years does require some overlap
touch up. The black color it comes in also has to be coated with acrylic coatings ac; the black color can collect too much heat on the suJiace of tbe roof
in areas that have a hot summer.
Cement plaster roofs with acrylic coatings allow much more design freedom but are more expensive and subject to maintenance
as the coatings have to be touched up every few years. They do allow total freedom of design, thougb. The spray foams that are
available in most cities provide can provide a long lasting, maintenan ce free coating for these roofs.
WATLR TALK
The ultimate root tor a litetime is metal ... non rusting metal with
It catches clean water. We have designed an actual building
a baked on enamel coating. It turns out that only one ot them ,
around this
to my knowledge, has a baking on ot the enamel process that
how important catch water is. There were a tew other issues why
doesn't involve lead You don't want lead So it you arc c ltching
we came up with the Packaged carthship but this was the one
water, torget metal roots except the one called Pro-panel. It
serious one. They are rectangular roots with a baked on enamel
you tind another rooting material with a coating that has no Icad,
metal coated root. Fantastic root. It even catches dew. I have
that's tine. But the metal root is a lifetime root. It is eas!::! t o
seen them run water in the gutter trom dew l That's a killer root l
slope a metal root to the south, but it seriously limits the deSig n.
But the downside ot that (ever!Jthing's got a downside, !Joujust
There are ventilation issues and mechanical vent issues, not to
have to make choices) the downside ot meta l roots is that it lim-
mention the carthship* itselt is kind at an organic bui ldi ng. 50
its your design and the carthship is an organic design and this
you have to try to get this sguare, hard core, r'ig ht angle metal
really limits what you can do. It could even be the cheaper way
root to work on it It's doable and we 've done it. We ca me up
to go because it's so sguare and works with the shape ot wood
with the Packaged Earthship just tor that reason - to
rletadwith
ro panel. Th ere a re examples ot the meta l roots which are , in
fact,
litetime roots. However, that metal rooting , a ll o t it, is
- the Packaged carthship. That's
truss detailing. So !:;Iou can't really beat it tor lots at things but I
tind myselt limited in using it. However, we have a whole series ot
carthship buildings designed around it and they work great.
designed to go on at a steep angle like at torty f ive d egrees or

more. We use it on a very shallow slope, an inch and a h<J IF per
Foot. That's not mu ch . The trick that we use to make It wor-k
a nd it seems to be working (we 've got six or eight y t'-<3 I- o ld b uildings like this) is, put the Propanel screws up on top ot the
not down in the valleys. They recommend putting the scr("W$ III
th e valleys to install it, but that's
Oil
a steep slope. On a shallo w
slope you put those screws up on the ribs , no water run s Lip
there alld you can get away with a much shallower slope. I' ll b et
the manutacturer would even love to hear that. It works great .
- Propanel roof showing
011
Earthships are what we call the sustainable housing that we have

been developing for three decades. All the buildings shown in this
book are Earthships.
ridge'i
'11
WATER TALK
Sometimes Ijust make a decision right in the beginning of a project. I' m not going to use a metal rooF. I' m going to do whatever
I want." There are options besides metal. We are still
looking, because we want the Freedom to do whatever we want
and still catch clean water and have a good, reliable rooF. So
now we are looking into the
bette r each
coa tings.
what kind
coatings that keep g etting
I've had expe rience with a lot of the

peel afte r a while. No matter how good it is or
of chemical Formula it is, it peels. You have to do it

not too bad of a deal, but it's still a drag.
three
One, the materials are getting better. Two,
...
accident we did it
on so me granulated Brai (that's the rooF I kee p looking at). It's

a Flat rooF on the south side of a building, baking in the s un, getting all kinds of abuse. Weathe r comes From the south west a nd
eight
coated Brai roofing
coats of
a bit. It has a couple of
later, it still hasn 't
coating on gril nulated lSrai. It takes two o r three
coats to catch clean wate r, to cover all the granulation, but

can't even imagine that peeling. IF .'::Iou take a
and look at those granules, eac h one of them isjust sitting there
like a little rock holding this coating on . There's no
it can
pee l around the granules, that we have seen. That was the best
looking rooF I have seen afte r' eight
rooF. So, no w our Favorite
Lell - Brai with several coats of acrylic coating is lht! best ma.lelial
lor detailing the basin roof <;hOWI1 ar lerr.
- Actual apphcaLion
or coated Brai rooting
other than a metal
lSra i. We' re using Brai, doing a real
good job of it, and the n appl:Jing Five

and we get an organic, Free bnn,
of
coating,
to install rooF that catch-
es clean water and will last.
55
WATER TALK
So there's the most important basic information that we have
compiled on roofs that catch wate r. Now
tion . . . we're not
take this informa-
this, do this, do that, because
aspect of these bUildings is something that we're all still

learning about. There's gotta be continued input on it, but the
main thing is understanding
we have made the turns and
twists and moves that we have made. We can show people that
there are
that work. ihat's
first intention, to show that
something works. I don 't give a damn how expensive it is, how
awkward it is, how
it is,
... if it WORKS, then
can refine it. We're finding roofs that work a nd here are their
limitatio ns and here are the reasonS to make them a certain size
and a certai n direction to tace. Mix a ll that with climate, budget,
The earth catches water in many ways.
time frame , part of the world in terms of culture, etc. and

can decide what is the best roo f for
and
go to the next step, and
over and
FACT
and what - and what's been done.
mountain stream co ncept of
The s ilt catch is

so that
take
water to
water
roof to a silt catch.
right on top of or right near the cistern
can filter out dirt,
whatever else is on
take that
take the same thing all
The next step is the silt catch device. You channel

with
Of a population of roughly 6.1

billion people on the earth, more
than 1 billion lack access to
potable water.
understand
Then
wings, leaves, mice and
roof. You filter out the pieces before

cister n . That's another piece of the
discussion that
would want to understand as
do a catch water roof.
decide to
57
Roof Modifications for Extremes

In areas where there is minimal precipitation, roofs can
be extended to provide more surface area for collection.
Newly designed water harvesting buildings can have large
overhangs and roof extensions.
This is just the opposite for areas with large amounts of
precipitation. In these cases, it is not necessary to use all
of the roof for collection, as enough water can be collected from only a portion of the roof.
Water harvesting buildings in wet areas have very minimal design requirements. Water harvesting bu ildings in
arid, cold areas have the most strenuous design requirements.
Arid/ warm areas - use all the roof area you can devise. It
need not have southern oriented slopes as there is no
snow to melt.
Arid/ cold areas - use all the roof area you can devise. All
roof surfaces must be oriented south for snow melt.
Wet/ warm and wet/ cold areas can use only as much roof
area as they need (usually not even all of the root). Not
all of the roof needs to be oriented south as snow melt on
the whole roof is not important.
58
Roof Retrofitting for Existing Structures

. The first issue for retrofitting existing buildings to harvest
water is to make sure the surface of the roof is suitable to
catch clean water. Types of roof surfaces have been discussed on the previous pages.
Existing buildings in arid areas can have porches and portals added with south facing roof slopes to extend roof
collection surface.
Existing buildings in wet areas ar e very easy to retrofit for

water harvesting. Just put up a gutter and direct the
water!
FACT
Water is our most precious resource.
59
CLEANING
Debris Traps
The water collected and directed from the roof surface must have the basic debris cleaned out of it
before it is allowed to go into the cistern. This is
usually done with a gravel trap or silt catch around
an inlet to the cistern. This is just for basic clean up
of twigs, leaves, grass, dirt and any other parts and
pieces that may be on the roof.
Top - The roof vaUey heading [Oward lhe scupper [rough.

Bottom Left - View from above lile scupper trough .
Bonom Right - Omside view from bel ow the scupper show ing
overllow panel.
Opposite Top - Diagram of scupper detail. See overview on
following page.
Opposite Bottom - Lndoor/outdoor view of lhe scupper
showin g pipe headed toward cistern.
60
WATER TALK
Once got the water going where want it, it
goes into cistern, want to get the big pieces out-
wings, twigs, leaves and dirt. So hal c to run it

through a silt catching device and there are all kinds things to
learn about that. The silt catching device has to be capable
handling major runott a major storm without wasting water.
One the th ings we observed in the past which caused us to go
right to the drawing board the next was ...
phil (a n Larths hip and I were out in the torrential rain
at a split level La rthship in the gravel pit reclamation project. We
had just been working on the house and wanted to watch all the
rain run where it was supposed to run. We were walking around
on the and watching our house catch water. It was a torrential rain and more water was coming down than our scupper
design could handle. It has a built in but we were wasting waterl We wasted hundred gallons water in
that storm alone. That was an example the s ilt catch which
was built into an actual scupper unit in those No matter
how well make the silt catch work, have to design it to
accommodate the giant load that it will get without
it'sjust designed to do a good job silt

catching, waste a big chunk at water collection. So
the silt catch has got to be designed, so that it will handle the
most torrential at rain that can imagine climate
and not and waste water. This a
design determinant the silt catch.
61
The section at right ill ustrates the scupper trough of an ealtb

rammed tire cistern with a plastered inside coat. [n cold climates, the inside is covered with R- 14 rigid insulation before
the plaster. This is to keep the winter cold water from cooling down the mass of the tires and consequently the living
space beyond the tires. The cistern gravity feeds out (the bottom right white dashed lines) and into a one Inch copper line
to the WOM (Water Organizing Module).
The scupper at upper right cleans silt out of the water and
delivers it down into the cistern. Both the inl et and gravity
outlet share the same hole in the bottom of the plaster cistern.
The detail is achieved with a Simple shower drain.
Notice that the scupper is half inside the home and half outside. The interior temperature of the home keeps the scupper
from freezi ng. The only down si de of this is if it is severely
col d, this is a cold spot and condensation wilJ form and drip
inside tbe house. In this case, the scupper must be located
above an interior greywater planter and be made of copper.
Care should be taken in the materials used fo r the cistern roof
structure. Any kind of wood will eventually rot. You certainly do not want to use treated wood as there is a tremendous amount of condensati on which dlips into the cistern
water and you don 't want chemicals dripping down with the
con densation. The joists should be plastiC, al um in um , or
masonry, and the deck should be of similar materials. We
have used cedar or redwood and then covered it with a rubber
or plastic ceiling membrane . This works quite well.
62
This metal roof/sil t catch rarely freezes

due to its connection with the large
mass of wanner than freezing water
below, in the cistern.
WATE:R TALK
A super thing that We did as a result ot seeing that our
scupper design was allowing water to be wasted in torrential rains is that we combined the whole root ot the
cistern and the silt catch into a silt catch/root! We
used to have the water go through silt catches (sometimes over tlowing and wasting water) and go into a
cistern that we had rooted with redwood and cedar
(kinds ot wood t hat shouldn't rot but
because there's constant
all still rot
in there). We got
the idea that... well, what the hell, we spend a lot ot

to root a cistern to make it waterproot and
Section of' silt catch above and section
Photo of the real thing opposite.
or cistem with metul roof/silt catch below
spent a lot ot
on silt catches that aren't big
enough ... let's make the root ot the cistern the silt
catchl
it
This
cistern,
got a ten or eleven toot diameter

got a ten or eleven toot diameter silt
catch. It's tantastic. The silt catch became the root

ot the cistern. It's a simple little design. There are
construction drawings ot it, but
the whole
root ot the cistern tunnels the water into the cistern

and has a silt catch built into the tunnel. It's ultra simple. That's
I like to repeat houses over and over
again, because each time, I'll do something ditterent.

little
long
aspect ot this can keep evolving until

death . That's how it started and how
it keeps going.
()S
Another more economical version of this

debris filter is shown in the metal roofed
water harvesting building below and opposite.
GRAVITY FEED LINES
-4
This building has plastic cisterns at either end

th at gravity feed through a hole in the tire
wall.
The cisterns are accessed with smaller funnels covering the m an holes. These funnels
also work as debris filters as sh own on the
following pages.
Above -
und gmviry /
!ng
or nn
Earthsh!p showing the cisrern local ions
d lines pcnctrallng the exterior tire walls
Lcfl - Photo oj Oil htnhshlp IdcrHilying the local ions of the cistern
runnel/sll I
Below - Section of small tunnel witll gravel Imp
3" - 0""
1/4"
114'(noles
6"
hardware cloth
WATER TALK
when we use the plastic cisterns, we make a big three or tour toot
diameter tunnel/silt catch. We
have two or three or tour ot
those plastic cisterns so we end up connecting all the cisterns on each

end ot the building and using one tour toot diameter tunnel tor each
side. This splits up the water so halt goes to one side ot the building
and ha lt to the other. This split divides the volume ot water in halt so
the s maller tunnels at either e nd still keep us trom wasting water due to
overflow.
Some ot these water harvesting homes have portals. We dam the
incoming water trom raintall up in the portal with pea gravel and let it
hold it and make it run in to the c isterns a little slowerjust tor those
super rainstorms. This also begins the process ot catc hing silt. So
there are all kinds ot tricks that start with the end ot the root collection
lew of Packaged Eanhship with open east end and ponul. The
[cds warer into the clstcm via the gUlIer, portal and funnel Sill cntch..
and with the rod ot the cistern which turns into being the
scupper. The job ot the scupper is to tilter out the bulk ot the debris
without restricting the flow so mu c h that
rain. Another thing that
their orientation .
Left - EPf)1'.1 covered

pOltul channeling runoff
into funnel Sill catch
Right - Portal covered
with EPOM and alo.yer
or pea gravel which

works
u preliminary
silt catch .
waste water in a torrential
have to consider with the silt catches is
Silt catching devices like those shown here and opposite,

filter water through gravel and then down a screened
tube in a funn el shaped metaJ device to catch basic debris
before it goes into the cistern. The gravel catches the
debris which eventually dries up and blows away. These
filters really never need to be cleaned. They rarely turn
into ice dams because they are somewhat atrached to the
body of water in rhe cistern which may be only 40
degrees but it is a mass that is above freezing and that
keeps the funnel from freezing unless it is extremely
severe. We are moving to plastic devices using products
lik.e small water tubs with modifications to create the
desired effect as metal eventually rusts away_ even when
it is coated.
WATE:R TALK
IF
have a silt catch
and/or
on th e north side
of the building,
shaded, it willjust turn into an ice dam in the winter.
One of the cool things about the scupper silt catch (page 6))
was that halF of the scupper was inside the building and halF of
it was outside. That was a
cool
to solve the ice dam
problem because the building itselF heated the scupper, it never

Froze. You could go out there in the dead
of winter and the
scupper wouldn't be Frozen because it was attached to the sevdegree temperature of the house. The success of that
phenomena was ca rried over when we put the scupper over the
cistern (as a cistern rooF/scupper) because the cistern itselF,
turns out to be a
of around
degree buried water
which is enough to overpower th e metal scuppe r/ rooF and cause
of water in the cistern can help

prevent Freezing as well as the location/o rientation of the scup-
it not to Freeze. 50 the

per.
are
to whatever extent
on the south side, or southern exposure

can get it. You can even extend the Fun-
of the scupper up on the north and make it a reFlector.

That's another criteria of the scupper - to be oriented so that
nel
it prevents ice dams From Forming. It should also be large

enough to dea l with a potential downpour and it should sift and
screen enough to catch the majo r pieces of debris.
flpoSilt:: and Above - Metal funnel sile catching devices
69
WATE:R TALK
part of th ese
Another thing that is beco ming an issue with

buildings, which in
th at
o pinion is another design determinant, is
component re9uire
little or no mainte nance.
There are a lot of contraptions that

maintena nce o n a
can design that re9uire
Fo ur hour basis or on a two week basis.
IF it's a high maintenance ite m, it's not going to
For
long. I
don't mind throwing out a high maintenance itemjust to s how

that, in
Fact,
this concept can be achieved
no matter how complicated it iSj but the minute

ing,
get it wo rk-
gotta reFine it and make it low mainte nance. The silt
catch has got to be in that rea lm too. It's gotta be something

that
don't have to clea n o ut
catc hes that we have now,
otten. In
Fact, the silt
never have to clean the m out.
What happens is the grave l aro und the Funnel and arou nd the
inlet that the water goes th ro ug h catche.s the debris. Sometimes
we'll get
and we'll do two d iFFere nt sizes
of gravel. The
grave l catches the de bris a nd t he n traps it there, giving it a

cha nce to
out, and the n the wind blows it

Full. After a bunch of rain, it will be kind
:'\hove - Detail of gllftcr draining to funnel silt catch

Pl10site - Overview of metal roof draming via a gutter to a fu nnel
III catch in an Earthship near Taos, Nc\\ Mexico
but the minute the

Areas with lots
dro ug ht
It never gets
of caked
come, it starts blowing
of ra in a nd leaves would need a wire bas-
ket built over the silt catch to tra p leaves beFore
get to the
gravel.
71
PLASTIC TREE TUB
GlITTER TROUGH FROM ROOF

MADE OF WOODCOVERED WITH EPDM
B UILDING WALL
2'; GRA
WATeR TALK
I'm
promote inherent
in other people, but at
the same time, I would
percent ot the time people's
Another design determinant ot scuppers is climate. In a tar
inherent
northern climate
too arrogant to listen to us and
would
have to enhance
on ice damming. whereas in a tropical climate,

But in tropical climates,
clean
thinking
can put it
would have to
scupper trom time to time, because due to the humid-
the debris would not
out and blow
arid climates. Instead, it would accumulate. So
like it does in
can empha-
just gets them into trouble, because
went down ten

save
which doors will lead

been . Not
run down the same road we
ago. We've got experience. It
time and
to
people can go
where we have
us in terms ot experience
with the whole package. That's worth something tolks. Listen to

it. It it sounds arrogant,
part ot the design ot the carthship in different climates. We
don't want to s9uelch other people 's thinking
have a great scupper. I tend to
the gospel truth and
[Ilat will
work tor all climates then I
things that
to point out the
would want to enhance in different climates.
Aga in I'm emphasizing the tact that I think the value that we have
. ,c hieved over three decades tor
promoting sustainable
';ljstems and living is we have observed things that don't work as

IlIuc.h as we have observed things that do work - and we are
I noS,
"Here are the design determinants, here are the criteria."
I here are
,-,ld stutf. We're
ot designers out there that can design

that we've discovered the criteria tor
and in tact we have a tew designs out there that show,
li nt in tact, these concepts work. Take it turther, be
guest.
- Schematic showing gutter draining into plaslic tub filter
1I willi rocks
II l'hoto 01 gutter draining into plastic lub IiIter lilled \\;ith
I.
want to
listen to us. I'll be the tirst to tell
size ditterent things about the scupper and in tact about
to design a generic design
are
apologies. But at the same time, I

"this is
to go." Our methods can be
evolved, even our concepts can be evolved.
gives
us a legitimate ex perience in observing what the determinants

are. We've tound the entrance to the mine.
The Custom Nautilus Eanhship design demonstrates the sculptu ral possibilit ies of living in an
alternative water managed home. Bathing in rain water. growing bananas in the kitchen. listening
to the rain fall on the roof and know that the ciSlelll is fil ling ... these become essential parts ot dai ly life.
Po1Ming, processingand reprocessing our limited water slIpplk,\ .

to haryest.
and reuse in way that produces food, flora and creates II
wiitllife.
4 Water - Using it
WAT E R TALK
STORAGE
Cistern Locations
From the silt catc h, whichever
is in
place, the water goes to a cistern.

Interior cisterns were the First thoughts
as
bring the water element into the
home. An interior cistern with a watertall and plants is a great experience to

add to the home,
in arid cli-
mates. There are disadvantages to this

though . IF
climate has a cold win-
ter season , then during the winter, the

water co ming into the cistern is ice cold
and the large mass
of water has a cool-
ing ettect on the space around it.

Another d isadva ntage is th at an intel-jar
cistern takes up a lot ot valuable living
space which not
ca n attord ,
so co nsidering these Factors, the cistern location is otten better placed outside instead. Still another disadvantage, in hum id cl imates , is that the
ind oor cisternjust adds to the
un co mFortable indoor
Above - indoor cistC'nl In the REACH Community in Tuos.
However, iF co nditions are right and

can attord it, ind oo r cisterns are a g reat
teature.
87
WATeR TALK
Location of the Pump

. It is important that the pump panel is located as low as
possible relative to the bottom of the cistem(s). This facilitates the gravity feed of the water to the pump. If the
pump is not gravity fed, it will have to suck water from the
cistern in addition to pushing the water to the pressure
tank. This causes the pump to wear out more quickly.
More importantly, it makes the pump subject to losing its
prime (Le. it sucks air instead of water). This can result in
more maintenance and the hassle of pump priming procedures.
First of all the cistern has to be located so that it will

the pump, because the pump we use is the
feed
of pump that
has to be primed. If the pump is sucking and pushing, priming

becomes an issue a few times a
pump
primedjust
and it's better to have the

forcing the water to
the pump. Then all it has to do is push. 50 that means the bulk
of
cistern has to be above
pump to create natural
water pressure feeding the pump. Your pump can be installed at

the lowest it can be which is right down near floor level. 50 the
bottom of the cistern should be a bit above floor level or at least
the same as floor level.
Opposite & Below: Schematics showing dstcm(s). Pump punel and

nressure l.aIlk locations.
Pres.s'l4re Tank supply to fixtures
kl)
WATER TALK
E:arthships or 5io-shelters are solar buildings and
beca use th e.sJ are gaining sun from the south , the.sJ tend
to be elongated ho uses east-west. There are three
obvious places to put a cistern o n a long home. One is
in the cente r of the st ru cture with the roof directing
water toward the center. The other two choices are at
either end or both ends of the ho me. You move the
water on the roof to the silt catch and the cistern location. So the location of the cistern is above floo r level
and at either e nd or in the middle of the building.
1;11C -
Nonhwestem view and floorplan of an Earthshlp with a ccnmilly
verview of thili buUding with centrally located cistern.

1\,\;;lview of a
dJfferem Eanhship wirh cislems
at cilher end.
hc ('a.lie of the Earthship shown opposite an d above, water is

II from both ends of the roof valley toward the cistem by
II,' high spots at either end of the valley that slope tow ard the
I hese high spots are called crickets.
1'1 hship
at right channels water to either end by means of a

(a high spot in the middle of the roof valley) that directs
fni rtl I he middle of the roof to both en ds.
water is channeled as if the roof were a mou ntain
'1lib clearly makes the roofing application much more
IHlI l ;) roof that just sheds the water.
hl! S,
1I1
CISTERN
CISTERN
WATER TALK
Th ere are a lot of Floor plans that illustrat e cist ern placement. It's like
else about a
home that encounters natural phenomena j

can't just saLJ. " I want
to
cistern here " . You have
t-he cistern where it is convenient tor the
root to ch:lnnd water to it.

toot- long
tJOU
IF
have a hundred
can 't channel all the water to
at the :;t-ruct ure because t he whole root
one end
ha:; to .;Iope d hu nd red t eet east or west and

can't re.l ilt) pu ll th.lt (JfF without a
ed roo!
+t II C. You have to get the root slop-
inggentll)
or west and
ti l I(Jrh)
For a
ca ting
th( .,1 1I II luf'( .
much ( 11>1('1" 1(,
slope it
Feet or so without co mpli-
This is possible but it is
to create a gentle slope on a
simple
mUl
can
bL-ld d tJ simple roof- structure and
then usC'
too
complicat -
511 ! Id l ire . 100 toot slopes re9uire

/'I' "',1 114,n c h.-.m ge Fo r the cricket tech-
nl9ue If '1111 1),.IVC: ., 100 t oot long b uild ing, and a

lot
ove - overview 0(' a ronl that uses crickels to channel water LO
11(.' cl.'item in the center or the building.
or , . I \,,, 1111""
cncke-t, .\
F'u1
Opposlre page - layout for an earth-rammed tire-buried huiJd-
[11 cisterns at either end.
P")ll1t, III t he middle ot the
ot
tliC' hig h pOint at either end and shunt
the: mddle, It the cistern is in the
thrmiddle. I
.r
put a
thc- mol . Im l ".hunt the water east and west . Or
Ilpcr opposite page - linear noor plan wirh cisrerns at either end or
IIdirl).
100 Feet long,
II
(lC.l rt (.)11
o t the cistern is one of the big
Issue,:; whe- n incorporating water catchment into

the de.5lgn
J ho me.
93
ing into a metal gutter which slopes erul tl

cis Iern wilh a silL catch rool. Notice the
pant!ls in the lower right of the picture. '(I I
create a shadow on the gutter resulting il;
ice dam during severe wenther. There UI
many considerations Lo lake into accoull
when designing n water harvesting systen
Floor plan and overview of this building (Ifi
shown opposiLe.
Cistern Size
WATER TALK
Size of the cistern is an issue. If .:Jou have minimal rainfall, .:Jou want .:Jou r cistern to be prett.:J big so that .:Jou
stash ever.:J drop of water. You never let .:Jour cistern
over f low if .:Jou are in arid climate because then .:Jou
wou ld be wasting water. On the contrar.:J , if .:J0u 're in
a wet climate, .:Jou can have a fairl.:J small cistern
because it's going to get filled up often. In New
Mexico, it is not uncommon to go six to nine months
without raining and then when it does rain , it is a deluge. In some of the torrential rains we have seen
some of our cisterns overflow which means the.:J are
too small. You don't want to waste a drop of water in
an arid climate. So .:Jour cistern is large, b.:J IQrge I
mean six thousand gallons or more, in an arid climate .
In a damp climate, the cistern can be three thousand
gallons or less. And .:Jou can do the math. You can do
the s9uare footage of .:Jour roof, break that down into
s9uare inches and compare that to the inches of precipitation per .:Jear counting snow fa ll and rain tall and
.:Jou can actuall.:J come up with a cubic volume ot water
that .:Jou would get in a .:Jear and that's how we've come
up with our recommended cistern sizes. (See page ,5)
That's how we came up with the figure, but .:Jou can do
.:Jour own math.
Size of cistern matters and location matters.
95
Cistern Types
Below - A tire cistern under constnlcrioo.
FACT
Water tables are falling on

every continent across the
world.
Above is a plastered tire cistern under construction. The

floor plan of this building is shown at right. This approach
allows the cistern to be an integral part of the structure. In
some climates, it is important to wrap the inside of the cistern with R- 14 rigid insulation (two layers of R-7) before
96
plastering. This keeps the sometimes cold water of the cistern from cooling off the tire walls and ultimately cooling
off the building in the winter. In a hot, arid climate, the
cooling effect would be good, so insulating the cistern in
this circumstance would not be necessary.
WATER TALK
We've do he
of cisterns and
deal with them For severa[
There is a product ca[led Thorosea[ which comes in a powder.
have had to maintain and
You mix it up and paint it onto the plaster. It seals cracks and pre-
afterwards. IF I'm not talking
about it, it doesn't mean we haven't tried it. I' mjust not going to
vents leaks. We have some cisterns with it and some without it. I
waste too much time talking about things that didn't work. For
would advise using it to create a
example, galvanized steel cisterns, Forget them,
It is even good after Five or six
stil[ rust, ga[-
vanized or not. Aluminum can cisterns ... we've done some and
almost Forever, cistern.

to put a touch-up coat of
this product on a plastered cistern. The good thing about a tire
are sti[1 working. The easiest homemade cistern is a tire cis-
cistern is that
tern. It isjust a circle of pounded tires with stucco netting and
size that
can make it
want. IF
and
can make it
are looking For a ten thousand gallon
plaster and it ends up being a concrete cistern encased in tires .
cistern, earth rammed tires are the best
plastered over
and the cistern has a rooF that is a Funnel that is also the silt
cisterns have been around For
IF
It's just a big
catch. A tire cistern with a metal Funnel silt catch rooF is Fantastic.
ever get a crack there is a solution.
of time and
and it's
need ten thousand gallons of water and/ or
But it's [ike building a room in terms

worth it iF
can build it
"
SCALE
tI
8
H4
mil CE'O
97
1'0.>
--
WATE:R TALK
The 9uicker, cheaper
to get a cistern is to spend eight or
nine hundred bucks on a Fourteen hundred gallon cistern made
of plastic.
are
durable plastic septic tanks.
Some people don't want to drink water out of plastic, but this is
hard plastic. I don't know that it's a problem. IF
are
concerned about it, test some water out of a plastic cistern and
test some From a concrete cistern and make
,.,....r.,..--;..,
\hrive - Floor plan or an Earthship with plaslic cisterns at either end
pposite - Actual building under consmlclion
don't know
harmFul.
that either cement or plastic cisterns are
We're down to two o r three diFFerent kinds
The can cistern isJust a can

We've done them and
in Belize
but it's
not
of cisterns.
buried and plastered.
haven 't ever Failed. The can cistern
re9uires a little Foundation a nd a lo t
low - Bortle
own choice. I
of cement to
the ca ns
more than plastering a tire cistern. Tire
cisterns are a little more bomber.
what
are talking
about is a can or tire Formed plaster cistern and plaster cisterns

work well. IF
need a large cistern, that is the
did a bottle cistern in Belize.
to go. We
had been using cheapo plas-
tic containers as cisterns that kept baking and breaking in the

sun, so while we were down there we just threw up a bottle cistern Fo r them a nd
bu ilding more. The
o nes
of their own .
are
still using it
and
that worked on it went home and made

We have drawings, we have speciFic drawings
on how to make a tire cistern,
not For a can cistern but
it's similar.
99
WATER TALK
They sell 1400 gallon plastic septic tanks (there are also 1700 gal-
IF you're building a little two bedroom home and you want to be
Ion ones available) and that's what we use most of the time . You
conservative, spend two grand, get two plastic cisterns, throw
can put Four of them together and you can collect 5600 gallons of
them in and you're done. Later on, iF you Find out For whatever
water at a time. But there's a lot of tandem plumbing to deal with
reason that you need more cisterns, you can connect additional
and the cisterns cost around a thousand dollars apiece, plus instal-
plastic cisterns relatively easily. I'm doinga new spec house right
lation. That's approaching Five thousand dollars For water. It's
now and I'm using Four plastic cisterns. It's got a huge rooF;
cheaper than a well but you could make a tire cistern For Five thou-
they are always going to be Full. That's really a good way to go.
sand dollars (with your own labor) and be able to store ten thou-
But plastic is not available in a lot of third world countries, so
sand gallons of water. IF you needed ten thousand gallons of
cans, bottles or tires would be a way to make a cistern there.
water, you'd have to buy six or seven plastic cisterns and that gets
Forget stainless steel, that would be outrageously expensive.
pretty expensive, so it's a matter of volume of cistern you need vs.
Forget galvanized steel tanks; they rust. We've had to go back
time and abilities that you have. The tire cisterns are more time
in and Fix them up several times, so we'll never use another one.
consuming and more expensive than iF you'rejust throwing some-
The location, the size and the type of cistern are important to
thing up, but I haven't had any complaints about how they Function,
have in your game plan.
they Function great.

The whole conFiguration of the rooF of the building has to be
related to the location of the cistern and the type of cistern.
We've been doing it now For over two decades and basically
FACT
plastic cisterns and plastered tire or aluminum can Formed cisterns are the types of cisterns we recommend.
Over pum ping of aquifers along the

coast of Israel is allowing seawater to
pollute drinking water.
101
WATER HARVESTING
CISTERNS BECOME AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE DESIGN
102
WATER TALK
I don't want to waste time talking about all the locations for cis-
One thing to consider is that if :Jour pump were to go on the
terns, other pumps and other this and other that. I've been
blink and the
doing it long enough that if it were
for it, :Jou could have
now. If
want to
research or
pump and are of the
to go with. On
it,
it, and spend a bunch of
I'm
that cisterns that
on
feed a
that we mentioned here a re the

aspect there are other sUffiestions and
possibilities. And I'd have to

ones that we 've
work or
I would have found it
that
pe rce nt of them are
thought of and/ or tried and the:J don't
a re going to reCjuire a bunch of research and devel-
opment. What I' m putting out in this book are things tha t work.
Again, it's the same old stor:J, for sure there are other minds that
can think of better
if
know the criteria . Research and
went to hell and
couldn't get parts
fed water in
one big thing right there. What if
house. That's
cistern were under the
Hoor? You would have to deal with all kinds of issues with that
situation from condensation, to pumping without the help of
gravit:J' to whatever. You're
reliant on a pump then and a
pump that builds pressure and so on and if the

hell and
couldn't get parts for the pump,
water out of
carthship with a
be dipping
cistern with a bucket. whereas in a regular

fed pump panel,
can still turn on
faucet and water would come out; not at

pressure, but
went to
would have water! I'm
extreme
tr:Jing to consid-
development has shown us that in an off grid, stand a lone home ,
er worst case scenarios, maintenance, ease of installation and
:Jou should have a water pump that uses minimal ele ctricit.l::J and it
ease of operation. And when
should be
fed
the cistern.
consider all of those things,
come up with cisterns that are
fed and ciste rns that
are eithe r plastic or plaster formed with earth-rammed tires or

aluminum cans laid in cement.
FACT
Over pumping is causing the water
table in dry NOlthem China to drop a
meter a year.
103
WATER TALK
The plastic cisterns have a tour toot metal tunnel that works as the silt catch
and the tire ones have an entire root that is a tunnel and it's so bomber. It
:Jou can afford it a nd have the time to do a tire cistern, it's tantastic, because
then :Jour whole cistern root is a tunnel and a silt catch and :Jou can even
catch condensation trom the underneath side ot the tunnel and have drinking
water. A tire cistern is m:J tirst choice it I've got time and mone:J, but to tell
:Jou the truth , I' m building a spec house right now and I'm not using a tire cistern, I'm using plastic cisterns because it is a little 9uicker and cheaper.
Those are :Jour two best options.
From :Jour cistern :Jou are going via gravit:J teeding, to a pump and tilter
panel.
Opposite - Overview of Propanel rool draining into u 6,000 gallon Lire cistern .
Lert - Propanel roof draining into metal gutter running water into metal Sill
catch funnel over plastic cistern.
105
DISTRIBUTION
Water Organizing Module
WATER TALK
The pump panel . .. again it's the same old
of this is how we do it.
want to keep reiterating that point. How we do it is one thing but the
co ncept of how it should be done is the main thing. If
don't follow
the concept then that opens doors for making it not work. The bottom
lin e is that the cistern is set up to
FACT
pump panel is mounted low, close to the floor. It's

two and a half foot tall
this panel and goes through a
In India, home to over a billion
people, key aquifers are being

over pumped, and the soil is
growing saltier through contamination with irrigation water.
feed the pump panel so the

a four foot
panel. The water
feeds to
mesh filter. The purpose of the
mesh filter is to protect the pump. It's a little DC pump that is set up to
suck from a depth of eight feet and from a distance of about
fourteen feet but it's much more efficient if it doesn't have to suck at all.
Wejust use it to push the water into the pressure tank. We like it
be cause it uses
little power. It's a DC pump. We want the water to
work off of DC power. If the water pump is AC (in a solar home) , it

means the pump itself is dependent on the inverter and inverters can go
on the blink sometimes. So if
inverter is on the blink, then
water is down. It's a much simpler, more direct

be DC, running straight off of the batteries. It's a
to have the pump

small amount of
direct power used and is not dependent upon an inverter. We design the
water
so that the pump
has to push the water into the pres-
sure tank, and not to suck. Another big deal about that is that when it
Opposite - Earthship Biorecrure's pump panel.
also caIled the Water Organizing Module or \V .O.M .
doesn't have to suck, it doesn't lose it's prime. Priming a pump is a little
and a lot of people are not into it and don't know how, so we want
to set the pump up so that it never has to be primed , so we
the pump. It's got water forced into it from
feed
and all it has to do is
push the water into a pressure tank . So this is the pump panel, we make
them ourselves.
107
PRESSL'RF. GAUGE
........
60 MESH fILTER
...... . CHARCO
F ILTER
PRESSURE
S)\ ITCH
GRAVITY FEEn
CISTERN
LINE TO
PRESSURE
..
.
I
LINE TO
HOUSE
WATER TALK
The W.O.M. (Water Organizing Module) starts with a
filter. The filter is the cleanable kind that
replaced. If
clean it
put it back in and
Nowa branch of the conventional
runs the water
th rough a charcoal filter. This c harcoa l filter protects a drink-
has to be
with a soft brush ,
can
don't have to keep replacing filters. You
can see through the filter ca rtridge so

filter is
mesh
ca n see whether the
or not. Itjust gets the debris the silt catch doesn't
ing filter which supplies each sink with drinking water. So each
one of our sinks in this kind of a home has a hot and cold
faucet and a drinking fa ucet. We don't want to run all the water
through the drinking filter, because the drinking filter slows
get o ut of the water to protect the pump. Then the pump push-
down the flow of the water and as a resu lt, all t he water would
es the water thro ugh another filter , a five hundred mesh fi lter.
be s low. We want regular, conventio nal pressure to take show-
Then on the water board (W.O.M.), the pipe breaks ot=f and
ers and to wash dishes and th ings like that. But to
goes to a pressure tank, a conventional pressure tank. This little
consume water in
DC pump is design ed to build up ade9uate conve ntional pres-
drinking filter that removes bacteria from the water. That's not
sure, something like
PSI , to give
but it's a good idea--the rain water straight from
conventional house-
hold pressure from a conventional pressure tank. The pressure
the roof would
tank is sized relative to the size of
from a municipal water
house,just like a conven-
tional pressure tank for a well. Now after the water is pressurized,
we run it through a more serious
now
be as clean as the water that comes

but we want it to be better. So
have ho t and cold and drinking water from the
have conventio nal househo ld water.
FACT
About 5 million people die each year

from poor drinking water, poor sanitation' or a dirty home environment-often resulting from water shortage.
109
WATE R TALK
The lines to the house From the W. O.M. s hoot up
SOLARlIO
/WATERlIEATER
, .-
DEMANDHOT
WAIERlIEATER
a nd go into a hot water heater. The kind of hot

water
that we
use is solar with gas
de mand backup. T he backup is a

made and used
in a radiator
eFFicie nt unit
in curope. It heats the water

thing as it goes through the hot
water heater. The minute
sto p using the hot
water and turn the hot water oFF, th e Flame goes out
andjust the pilot is left burning It's ca lle d an "on
demand " hot water heater and provides a
cie nt
eFFi-
to obtain hot water, because it uses a
miniscu le amount of Fuel pe r

Now we take it a step Further. Prior to the gas
demand unit, we run the water through a solar hot
water heater. Then, in areas that have a decent
amount of s un, the d e mand unit is seldom needed .
The solar un it is a kind of a batch heater. It has a
big plate and a tank to store the heated water in. It
goes on
rooF a nd we
to bu ild it into
the conFig uratio n of the building. The water goes

through t he solar hot water heater. IF there are
and the water does n't get hot enough,
the water
is designed to channel the pre-
solar heated wate r through the gas o n demand unit

which will boost the temperature of the water to
what
need it to be.
111
5 Water - Reusing it
GREYWATER
WATE:R TALK
washer
Water - trom the

GREY
WATER
DRAINAGE
BRANCH
- is now coming out ot the taucet.
You use it and it goes down the drain. The drainage has
kitchen
sink
to be plumbed with conventional plumbing and vents and

code.
lavatory
All the drainage water
except tor
toilet, is plumbed and ganged together
and called
drainage branch.
up so at the end ot the
tub
create,
We set it
drainage branch , the
drainage water canjoin the toilet water and go to

want it to, via a ?
the septic tank, it
3 way divener valve ...
valve. So the
00
diverter
in terms ot code, can go straight
to the septic tankjust like the toilet. So there

line into septic
septic
tank
A conventional
ent part ot our
Now what we do is take a loop
ott ot that which we ca ll the

We do this at the three
to our
or let it go to the
we keep the septic shut ott and we go
septic.
DRAIN FIELD
treabnent branch .
diverter valve which will let the
go to our treatment
CONVENTIONAL
have a
is an inher-
which has an overtlow into the septic
branch, but the
trea tment branch is sized so
that the overtlow is
used. Bottom line is that our
isjust a loop ott ot a conventional
This diagram shows how a conventional sewage treatment system

is inherent in our system. The treatment cells, both for greywater
and blackwater, are simply loops that provide options relative to
total on site containment of sewage. These loops also facilitate
plant production and water conservation, but when they are bypassed, they in no way effect the presence or performance of
the conventional system.
tern, accessed with a three wa!:J valve, which does not

ettect the pertormance ot the
were
it to be activated.
Left - Diagram oj greywater and blackwater Lreatment
branches.
Opposite - View of an actual greywater treatment branch
(an interior botanical cell)
113
Botanical Cells
Greywater is defined as water from sinks, showers, bath
tubs and all other fixtures, except the toiJet(s). The
Earthship greywater system contains, treats and distributes greywater via a series of botanical cells which make
up the greywater treatment branch. In these rubber
lined botanical cells, filtration, oxygenation, transpiration
and bacteria encounter all play a part in cleansing the
once used water.
FILTRATION
The used water is filtered through a mixture of gravel and
plant roots. Sometimes shredded plastic containers are
mixed with the gravel to extend the volume and simply to
get rid of plastics. In addition, there is a filter at the beginning of the series of botanical cells and another at the very
end.
OXYGENATION
Due to the nature of plants, oxygen is emitted into the
gravel/water mixture through the plant roots as they take
up the water. Water movement due to plant uptake contributes to nitrogen removal. This removal of nitrogen
has a cleaning effect on the greywater. This can also be
achieved artificially with a vacuum pump, but a healthy
botanical cell should not need this technology.
114
TRANSPIRATION
The process of taking up water by plants is called transpiration. Water taken up by the roots actually comes out of
the leaves and humidifies the surroundings. This process
uses a considerable amount of the greywater.
BACTERIA ENCOUNTER
A very simplified explanation of this "encounter" is that aI
particular type of bacteria naturally begin to "take up reiidence" in the cavities within the gravel/plastic area.
These bacteria attack the bacteria in the greywater and a
certain cleansing is the result.
All the above processes naturally clean once used water to
the point where it is fit to use again for toilet flushing.
Toilet flushing consumes over 40% of the daily water use
in a conventional home. The multi-use of the same water,
in Earthships, greatly extends the household potential of
any given amount of water harvested from the sky or any
other source.
Opposite - Section of a Typical Botanical Cell
Our greywater treatment branch is

called a BOTANICAL CELL. There
can be one or many of these. Each one
consists of a rubber (EPDM) lined pit
usually placed inside the home.
Anywhere there is a cold winter, this cell
is located inside the home, because it
needs to be in a tropical climate yearround, so the plants will grow yearround as the plants are the system.
This botanical cell is a cross between
hydroponics and wetlands, yet it is neither. It is a botanical cell that has its
own purpose. That purpose is to clean
up the water enough to reuse it for flushing the toilet, while providing an oxygen, flora and food producing jungle in
the home at the same time.
This cell is filled with a gravel/shredded
plastic mix up to within a foot from the
surface. Then a 2" layer of sand covers
the gravel to keep soil from going down
into the gravel. Greywater moves
through the cell in a linear fashion to be
recaptured at the end of the line for
flushing the toilet.
116
A bacteria encounter takes place in

the gravel depths which are filled with
water. The gravel actually fonns a kind
of "condo" housing project for a certain
kind of bacteria which "attack" the bacteria in the greywater. This is part 01'
the natural cleaning process.
The plant roots find their way down
into the water filled gravel and suck up
some of the water. In this process, the
plants disperse oxygen and this results
in an oxygenation treatment of the
water. This is the pIimary purpose of
the botanical cell.
This is part of the natural transpiration of the water by the plants, resulting in oxygen and some humidity for
the room. There is also a certain
amount of evaporation gOing on as
well . The overall effect is flora, foliage ,
some food, oxygen production and
even some air filtration by the leaves of
the plants. Certain plants, such as
bananas and spider plants, are known
for their abilily to filter air through
their leaves as they exchange carbon
dioxide for oxygen. All this happen
while simply cleaning up the water so
that it can be recollected for flushing
the toilet.
117
The botanical cell above has been plastered before receiving a four layer plastic liner. The plastic protects the one
layer EPDM liner fTom any sharp edges in the plaster.
]18
Above is the same planter after gravel. sand and earth filling and after plants have been established to treat the
greywater.
This sequence of pictures goes

from the top left to the bottom
right. It illustrates the steps in
buHding a botanical cell from
dig out, to aluminum can walls,
to plastic sub liner, to EPDM
liner with insert detail into can
wall. This is the type of botanical cell shown in the diagrams
on the following pages.
GREY WATER
PUMP AND
FlLTER PANEL
DIGESTER/GREASE
.
& PARTrCLE FILTER
3 WAY VALVE
RECIRC LINE
FROM END OF CELL TWO
TO BEGINING OF CELL ONE
TO BOTANTCAL CELL ONE
BOTANICAL CELL ONE
WATER TALK
The logic tor what happens at the beginning ot the botanical
cell is a result ot the tact that the water trom the shower,
tub, sinks and laundry has some ha ir, tood bits and other
IGESTERIGREAS
AND PARTICLE FILTER
"stutt" in it. These particles would eventually clog our ultimate treatment system. So after the greywater passes
through the three way diverter valve a nd betore it drops into
the bot3nical cel l, it goes into a device that gets these particles out ot the water. basica lly you want to trap them and
separate them trom the water, then allow them to break down
and wash on into the system as smaller particles and nutri-
BLACKWATER
TO SEPTIC
VIEW FROM ABOVE
ents tor the soil and pla nts. The d evice for achieving this is
ca lled a grease and particle tilter or digester.
&f"C' -i
.. _T....e..
...."?
a'
mO O
00
Dlbb:1
&
PARTICLE m TER
. eEL
-""<!!!rdIT"L1It-'I
...
re
CEI.LONE
\
\ 3WAY VALVE
The plan view above and Lhe overview (opposite) iIluSLfuLe a generic
application of [he botanical cells in a "Pack.aged' Eanhship.
The concept shown here can be applied to any Earthship or

any building floor plan that is designed with the treatment
of greywater in mind. There can be one or many cells
depending on the floor plan layout. All cells must have
solar exposure for the plants to grow. The plants ARE the
system.
The object is to gang all grey water fixtures together and
take them to the three way valve. There, they have the
option of going through the valve and into the botanical
cells or by-passing the botanical cells and going out to the
outdoor blackwater cell which incorporates a conventional
septic system. If this valve is closed to the botanical cell(s),
the water is directed to a conventional septic system or
even a municipal sewage system.
Recently, code in New Mexico has changed to require

kitchen sink water to go directly to the septic system. In
order to pass inspection yet make use of the greywater produced there, an optional valve may be installed at the
kitchen sink. This allows the kitchen water to go to the septic if need be, but it also gives the homeowner the option of
using this greywater in the botanical cell(s).
If the kitchen water is diverted directly to the septic system,
four things will come as a result: (1) more water will enter
the septic system; (2) less water will pass through the interior treatment system; (3) the grease and particle
filter/digester will need to be cleaned less frequently; and (4)
the initial odor of the toilet water will be diminished.
121
Digester/Grease & Particle Filter

The first element of the botanical cell is the grease and
particle filter. An alternative for this unit is the solar
digester. The purpose of these units is to filter out and
dispose of the grease and particles in the waste water
such as hair and food pieces. The botanical cells would
eventuall y clog up if one of these un its were not in place.
3 way valve
Grease and particle ,.'

filter/digester
122
I he grease and prutic1e filter has a

H:rforated
capture the partiIt's.
'--'-
Ihe opening of the outlet is at the III II tom of the unit

"'rl.!use to flo at and the filtered
Ill' low to escape without the grease.
I II is unit sits on large rocks with

' paces between to allow a large
.... _
1I1 1le or water to enter the botanical
(cli such as a bath tub drain ing withoU l backing up.
" redwood or plastic lid allows
Iean out. Clean out has proven
over the years to be a nasty job
on ce every couple of months, so a
prefilte r was added by clam ping a
leg of pantyhose to the inlet pipe
with a stainless steel radiator clamp_
Now you just change stockings
every two months.
123
r@ a
brea.ther 1)111e
above plasac: tray
g" Bulkhead BtlUlg
PlastJc tray w/holes
a" Uong sweep PVC pipe
Nylon stocking attached

wl.hose clamp to
catch particles
2" PVC greywater inlet
Z" PVC nipple

PVC greywater outlet
nylon stocking detail
.c "'.
L('
Above - The grease and particle filler with nylon stocking prefilter
124
Cut oUnylon ''pantyhose''

stoclang. attach with
hosec1amp
Remove and replace stocking

when full of debris
WATER TALK
We have used man.l:j versions
of
a grease and particle Filter as
the First element of the botanical cell. The perforat ed tra.l:j
Fil-
tered the particles as the water went through the tra.l:j and
we nt on o ut. It d id thejob, but it was real gnarl.l:j to change
TRAY
that thing, to clean it. The next evolution

a stocking on the inlet pipe
of the Filter is we put
of this device. We
with a radiator clamp so it, in
clamped it on
Fact, caught a ll the stuFF andjust
the water ran through. 5ut still, the water that was in t he
grease and particle Filter was prdt.l:j nast.l:j and .l:jou had to
have a lid on it to keep it Fro m smelling.
People complained
about how nast.l:j it was to c!c-,1n . We've heard so me Funn.l:j stories From their experiences. So me people wou ld
lift up the lid
of the grease and particle Filter after not cl eZl ning it Fo r Four
months or so and the stocking was like a human leg in there, a
brown leg . I remember somebod.l:j put awhole set of
hose on o ne and I lifted up the lid and two legs burst out at
me a nd scared the shit out
of me.
It was two Full legs
of g un k l
That's not a Fun situation, but it did work.
An important thing to notice here is that the grease and particle Filter is sitting on so me ver.l:j large (6 ") rock. Th is larger
rock provides larger voids between the rocks than the tin.l:j
vo ids between the gravel . These larger voids Facilitate
Fast
drainage into the s.l:jstem For bath tubs, showers etc.
125
WATeR TALK
The point to know about this "tirst tilter at the botanical cell"
What ends up washing into the cell is sort at sandSlJ
situation is that :Jou want to come up with a device that segre-
down matter and it's prett:J cool actua ll:J . The broken
gates the "stutt" out at the water betore it moves on into the
particles a re now an asset to the botanical cel l as a nutnc" II
gravel in the basic s:Jstem. The grease and particle tilter attempt
The digester device, works well but it takes $;;50 to have ,lfl
was prett:J good, but now I've got something cheaper and better.
built and it should be inst a lled in a sunn:J area at t he ho me .
I'm taking all at these devices and evolving them toward a "no
The:J are real l:J nice and the:J even have t he element ot a 5l11."
maintenance" situation. The more I understand about them, the
dark face on them, so that :Jou can actuall:J cook the partide .
more I can get them to operate on a real natural basis so the:J
and get them 9uite hot. It has to be strategical!:J located ttl
don't need much, it an:J, ma inten ance. The next thing we tried
that s un . It is simple to clean. Youj ust lift up the lid and tab - .-,
was something on the order at a sola r oven, made out at copper
brush and wash it out with some hot water a nd ma:Jbe some
and redwood. It had a couple at copper tra:Js in it to strain the
washing li9uid. In places where people send a lot at "toad p() I-11
water and then the lowest part at this device was higher than the
c1es" down their kitchen drains, :Jou can put the stocking on the
overHow at the gre:Jwate r s:Jstem so that we were in ettect tra p-
inlet and trap the. hulk at the stutt, so the device has less work
ping the particles and pieces on a shelt above the level at the
to do. In t his case :Jou are still left with the changing at the
water in the botanical cel l. The idea there is that the:J wou ld
stocking tilter ever:J month or so.
-1" \,,,
break down and then wash into the s:Jstem as nutrients , not as
bacon parts o r pieces at broccoli which would ultimatel:J clog the
You are not dealing with a bod:J at water in this digester, :Jou a re
5:Jstem.
just dealing with dr:J stutt o r semi-dr:J stutt.

To review, the "tirst device" at the botanical cell is something
th at traps the particles, separates them some wa:J , a nd lets them
break down betore the:J e nter the gravel at the bota nica l cell.
There are no problems with the digester, other than cost and
the tact that it must be located in the sun. It's cost and the maintenance tactor that drives us to keep evolving this tilter. We
have pla:Jed this game a tew times.
126
3 way valve
& inlet
".<Io'(
WATER INLET
PLAN VIEW
128
Greywater enters the digester and is contained in the first copper

section of the unit. 3/16" diameter holes allow the water to pass
through, leaving any large particles behind to dry and fry (lower
right on opposite page). The second copper section has 3/32"
diameter holes which filter out even smaller particles and also
trap any grease. The filtered water drops into the botanical cell
while the grease and particles remain above water level. The
black solar face covering the unit which is oriented south collects
heat like a solar oven, which causes drying and fr ying of what is
left. This is then broken down over time and washed into the system as harmless, even helpful , nutrients.
An occasional spooning out of debri s and washing with

a long handled scrub brush and dish washing liqUid is the
only maintenance necessary on this unit.
The water that drops into the system begins its journey
through the rock cavities. This filtered greywater is
subjected to the oxygenation and transpiration of the
plant roots and the bacterial activity caused by bacteria
harbored in the rock cavities.
129
WArE/< IJUt-I!!,
Tf!AY
?
...
In this version of the digester, the particles are trapped

in the copper tray and the water passes through. The
particles eventually break dow n an d are passed on into
the system as smaller nutrient particles. If a lot of
grease is used in the kitchen, then the stocking is
clamped on the inlet pipe with a radiator clamp.
Access to this unit is achieved with a redwood box and
lid as shown in the cliagram shown opposite.
130
,.
/'
./
,/:
.- . ,,
1-10
.....\Jti
We're still setting up to put a stocking on the inlet pipe and itjust
la:Js out on the copper tra:J iF it is used. It is oFten not needed.
;<
DWO
8&X.
It depends on how much "Food stuFF" and grease comes From the
kitchen. The elevation of th e copper tra:J is a minimum of a halF
inch to an inch above the o verflow outlet at th e end of the
botanical cell, so that water leve l can never reach the elevatio n
of the tra:J. What we ultimatel:J have is an inFiltrator. To cover it,
we'rejust making a hinged copper covered redwood lid . Then
we place it right at the level of the dirt and let ground cover grow
all around it. Lver:J cou ple of months :Jou ma:J have to push the
ground cover awa:J and lift th at lid and change the stocking iF
:Jou use it, but there's no other
to deal with ,just some
occasional scooping out of particles.

We have seen these work well enough without the stocking
detail. We had one working in one building For eight :Jears and it
WATER TALK
never was cleaned out. The little 1/ 8 inch to
1/+ inch holes in the
bottom of the copper tra:J catch the "stuFF". The "stuFF" breaks
Now, we are actuall:J going back to the buildings that have the
down and :Jou rarel:J have to get into it. But I would still want a
old grease and particle Filters and up dating them with a new idea
means of observation, because the onl:J mistake I made in the
based on what we have learned From the First two devices.
home where we tried this out :Jears ago is that I made the observationjust a tube to observe and :Jou couldn't see enough.
First, we remove the old grease and particle Filter. About an inch
Over the :Jears, I've looked into that tube man:J times and there
below the gre:Jwater inlet pipe, we set a 16""x 20" perforated
was never an:Jthing there to speak oF. This is a Fairl:J mai nte-
copper tra:J. It sits on the big rocks (:Jou have to add some)
na nce Free wa:J to collect the particles out of the wa ter beFore it
that were under the grease and particle Filter. We' re build ing
goes into the s:Jstem. It's an ideal wa:J For the people out there
them up a little more andjust setting a copper tra:J on top of the
that a lread:J have the grease and particle Filters to upda te their
rocks.
own s:Jste ms. The:J should replace the grease and particle Filters
with this , because this is cheaper, it works better a nd it re9uires
le ss maintenance.
13 1
WATER TALK
Ijust keep on learning over and over again how valuable it is not
to hold onto something that
havejust invented. Let it
evolve. Tear it apart. Take the good parts about what works,
blow the rest off and keep going. As a result, the grease and
particle/digester scene is a thousand times
was DNO
ago and
than it
Few people know that.
under-
standing of itjust keeps getting more thorough and I can keep

making reFinements on this unit.
12 INCH PVC "T" PARTICLE TRAP
Now we have DNO other methods of Filteringldigestinggrease

and particles that are worth mentioning. One is a
simple
particle catching device that we have used beFore and it seemed

to be a success. It is a 12" PVC "T " with a cap and screen .
The cap is For access, cleaning and observation and the screen
(1/4" hardware cloth over copper scree n) is For trapping the
particles - hair and stuff From shower,
and kitchen
sink. Again, the Filter is set higher than the water level , so we
are dealing with
and breaking down stuff that
gets scooped out with a soup ladle From the cap at top. This
unit produces a
product that can be put on a compost pile.
We are
out a new device inve nted
building crew who has built
of these
a member of our
He has come
up with a device that meets all the criteria:

(1)
to construct; (2)
expensive. This is
to service; and ()) not too

a stainless steel sink with holes drilled
in the bottom of it with a lid For access. Again, it is positioned

above the overflow level , so the particles are trapped above the
moisture leve l, so
can
and break down . The
breaking down stuff can be scooped out

a soup ladle. This stuff is
to a compost pile.
month or so with
compost and can be added
notch for
supply
gasket
/
notch for vent
shallow stainless steel sink

wI strainer & 1/8" to 1/4"
holes drilled
redwood frame box

with hinged glass lid
TED'S PARTICLE FILTER
SECTION
133
Interior Botanical Cell

The basic make up of the interior Botanica1 Cell is about
3' - 0" of gravel, sand and dirt in a rubber lined pit. It
starts with some fonn of digester and ends with a peatmoss
filter just before a well which collects the cleaned greywater for flushing the toilet.
NOTE!
OVERFLOW TO SEPTIC
OCCURS 1/2H saww
BOITOM OF DIGESTER PAN
DIGESTER
WELL
WATER TA LK
Now that !:)ou understa nd what t he digester/grease a nd
particle
needs to do a nd how it should be situated ,
we ca n discuss t he interior bota nica l cell. You are doing

a ru bber lined cell. You can have as man!:)
of them as
!:)ou wa nt. The cells can be shaped in an!:) wa!:) t hat !:)ou
wa nt. IF !:)ou do have more t han one, !:)ou connect them,
so rhat t he.y act like one big p la nter. The cell is in the
neig hborhood
of th ree Feet d eep.
The bo ttom slopes at
least a 9ua,-ter inch to a halF inch per Foot a nd it's ru b ber

lined. It can be whatever width !:)ou wa nt, but it's not
much less t han two feet . It's rubbe,- lined with E:. P DM
rubber, hlled with gravel For about two Feet, a couple
inches of sa nd to keep the dirt From Falling d own into the
gravel and then covered with soil. It does n't have to be
top soil, it ca n
be an!:) kind of soil.
The reason being that
o nce it st art,'? getting gre,ywater "unning th rough it, a n!:)

ki nd
of Funk!) . worthless soil is g o ing to become rich, Fer-
tile soil. You don't have t o spend a lo t of mane!:) getting

t he fanc!:) so il, although it is good to mix in some sa nd ,
peat moss a nd some
stuff, so t hat t he plant roots
can get t hrough it easil!:) to Find their wa!:) t o t he bod!:)
of
water traveling t hrough t he gravel.
135
WATER TA LK
(
You ca n have as
can be
shape or
all ove r
ho me,
botanical cells as
length . If
are in different places
connect them with leveling pipes about
b inc hes o ff the bottom so the
want. The cell (s)
,"
, ..
in each of them will
be at the sa me level.
CONNECTOR PIPE
elevations of grey water inlets and outlets
136
Two or more botanical cells of any shape can be used.

The general rule of thumb is to allow for 25 square feet
of planter space per plumbing fixture.
The cells must be connected with pipes
enough in the cell to allow the bulk of all water in all cells
to seek the same level.
137
6J' f/
:j
[
amm
et!
I
<;ONNECfOR LINE
BEnfEEN CELL ONE
AND
TWO
\,.
t!
11
,
'" I
..c..
4'.Q
04' (J'
il
"
'5' .()'
II '-ti
:B<aro..,m
CELL TWO PEATMOSS

FILTER
'J.suhm/ [,"'uIfJ/Th-u."f]
..,IJ,QESIER CELL ONE

57'
II'
tv< '" tIlT - first 'vlII'f!
.1" /)" 1/ '-4
WATE:R TALK
want to have the kitchen sink
close to the
grease and particle tilter/digester unit which should be on th e

tront t ace, so that the whole
plumbing so that
locate it close to where
is in a place where plants will
grow. Ot course the kitchen sink should be

where the other plumbing is, so
Knowing that sewage piping slopes a 9uarter inch per toot,
close to
have to
locate
can get allot the
to a
know
are going to start with
grease and particle ti lter/digester. Another option is

locating the sewage pipes in such a
so that
tor instance trom a sink,
can travel to the tro nt tace inside ot a wall or
banco without going under the tloor. You can locate things
grease and particle tilter which is against the south side ot the
where
house where plants would grow. So a floo r plan
ing pipes underneath the tloo r . It the pipes are beneath the
basic plumbing comes into
the
here. You can't have plumbing
back on the north end ot the house and

pipes under the tloor - then
want the
can meet the criteria ot not hav-
will be too low to get them to the tront tace above or
at tloor level. That leaves
to get t he
water to the south end ot the house, because
floor,
want as long as
with a lot of options, butjust look
t the tloor plan and think about it. The bottom line is locate
will have
have a height issue. You don 't
drainage branch to enter the
.LJour plumbingtixtures relative to this discussion. That's the

thing that people screw up on,
b eca use
treatme nt branch with pipes two teet under the tloor, because
don 't understand this point that Ijust made and
then
bathroom wherever
planter has to be lowered two teet. A tloor plan dis-
cussion must go on in
because
head beto re
have to locate the
the tront tace and
on
have to get the piping there at a reason-
able height - as high as possible. So getting the piping to come

to the planter where the grease and particle tilter/ digester is
located, above floor level prcfcrab&;, so !Jour planter doesn't
have to be below floor level, is a tloor plan issue.

Opposite - noor plan showing all plumbing fL\.[Urt!s ganged together
and close 10 the from race (0 simpJily how the greywater drainage
branch reeds the digester which is also in the rrOnl race
can't make their
work. You have to organize the locations ot
even attempt this ,

treatment
want and then
put their
plumbing tixtures and then think about it relative to what it takes

to make the
to
tloor plan it
work. It's not a serious detriment

plan tor it.
We are
working on a demonstration home that has a
lar&
planting area . We are making an attempt at increasing the at

the plant producing areas in the newer homes tor two reasons . One rt'
is to provide more treatment area which results in cleaner water, but the
other reason is to provide more area tor growing tood. Food is going to
more ot an issue in the future. Some ot the larger, new bUildings are gl
to have two
branches converging in the middle ot the
One end ot the building has the kitchen, washing machine and a bath. It
will have the latest torm ot digester, in this case, the basic copper
ered with a redwood box and operable lid shown on page 131. Then the
water goes on through multiple cel ls to the last cell - cell tour.
COPPER
DIGESTER
TRAY
BATH
KITCHEN
CELL TWO
140
I
The other of the two
branches has multiple cells and would
be servicing a bathroom (rig ht side of this plan below). We are

a new application where the entire first cell is the digester/
grease and particle filter. It has a manifold of 2" PVC pipejust dumping the
from the bath
into a large rock portion of the
cell. The large rock creates such large cavities that this a rea could
never clog withjust drainage from a bathroom going into it. T his cell
then has a I" gravel area
of all botanical cells and the n another
large rock area to collect the water for movement into the next cell via
the low 2" connector pipes. In this
cell four in its e ntiret.y
beco mes the well for recollecting the water to flush the to ilet.
BATH
141
WHAT GOES ON IN TH E BOTANICAL CELL

EY APORATION
Evaporation is the transformation of liquid water into a vapor. Due to the sun light shin ing directly on the surface of the
botanical cell, a certain amount of evaporation of water occurs.
TRANSPffiATION
Transpiration is the loss of water from pl ant leaves. Water exits the leaf through stomata, which are tiny pore spaces in the
leaf. The rate of transpirat ion depen ds on air temperature and solar radiation.
The volume of water lost in transpiration can be very high. It has been est imated that over the growing season , a one acre
field of com may transpire 400,000 gallons of water. As liquid water, this wouLd cover a field with a la ke 15 inches deep. An
acre of forest transpires even more.
OX YGENATION
This is the process o[ oxygen escaping from the roots of the plants. This oxygen reduces the nitrate loading of the water.
The oxygen escapes or is "displaced" by the water from the botanical cell being sucked up into the plant via its root system.
BACTERIA ENCOUNTER
Bacteria harbored in the gravel cavities attack the bacteria in the greywater resulting in a cleaning effect.
143
WATER TALK
The gravel (In what I call oversimplified terms) is a condo hous-
That's what goes on inside the cell. Your grease and particle fil-
ing project for bacteria. lSacteria will "hangout" in the gravel.
ter, whatever version !)OU use, surrounded b!) a "bulb" of big
This certain kind of bacteria attack the bacteria in the gre!)wa-
rock starts off the cleaning process. Then the gre!)water starts
ter resulting in a basic cleaning of the water. That's one thing
working its wa!) through the fine one inch gravel getting "treated"
that goes on in there. Another thing that goes on is that !)OU are
b!) natural biological processes all the wa!). Just before the well
creating a sort of h!)droponic situation. There are a few inches
where the water is collected , there is a peatmoss filter. This is a
of top soil to structure the plants to stand up in, but then the
ver!) simple installation of peatmoss bales pressed into a bottle
roots head straight down into the gravel after a few months.
neck created at the end of the botanical cell. The plastic wrap-
The voids between the gravel are full of water and so the plants
pers around the bales sta!) intact. The!) just have hundreds of
have access to endless water that the!) can suck up . As the!)
holes stabbed into them with a screw driver or an ice pick. The
suck up the gre!)water, the!) put out ox!)gen. The ox!)ge n
water is forced to go through the holes and the peatmoss before
genates the water and cleans it (actuall!) reducing the nitroge n)
it falls into the well. The peatmoss is an "everlasting" filter that
while the bacteria that are present create a cleansing e ffect as
also helps reduce nitrogen in the water, thus helping to eliminate
the!) attack the other bacteria. The gre!)water also gets used
the sulphur smell of the gre!)water. The water that drops into
and transpired b!) the plants and then some of it evaporates.
the well has been cleaned enough to allow flushing of the toilet
The cleansed water continues on to the well at the end of the
with what appears to be clean, (not potable) water.
cell. So we have what I call bacteria encounter, ox!)genation,

evaporation, transpiration and evaporation. All this nurtures th e
That's !)our botanical cell. That's what's going on in it. It is NOT
plants along the wa!) while rendering the water fit to reuse for
a botanical cell unless it has plants growing in it. You can do this
toilet flushing.
without plants and it will not work. All it will do is halfwa!) filter
the water. The smell will still be there, ever!)thing sta!)S the same
or gets worse without plants. The activit!) of the plants is what
takes the smell out of the water and cleans the water. It's the
movement of the water through the botanical cell with the evaporation, transpiration and ox!)genation and bacteria encounter
going on that makes the s!)stem work.
145
WATER TALK
Let's
link them with a plastic PVC pipe. It's a two
have three cells. You
inch pipe that has a "T" on it. It is placed in the botanical cell about six inches above the
bottom. We used to let the first botanica l cel l fill up and then link into another one at the
I
I
top . out this lets the first cell get too
",
starves the end of the line where
before the other cell gets
water and it
want to collect the water. So now we link them six
inches 04 of the bottom of each cell , so that
all seek the same level and the water
still makes it t o t he well.
Elevation -1"
bottom of pipe
Elevation
bottom of cell
CELL TWO
eEL
HREE
Peat Moss
Filter
147
WATER. TALK
when botanical cells are being linked for tandem use, it re9uires
punching a hole in the E:PDM rubber liner. There is a detail for
punching this hole, taking a PVC pipe through it and taking that
pvc pipe to an!) other planter an!)where on the south face to

connect the cells, so the!) will all contain water at the same level.
radiator
clamp detail
levation 6"
above bottom of cell
A little radiator clamp around the pipe and over the rubber
makes a good water proof seal. The hole must be cut in a circle
much smaller than the pipe and then stretched around the pipe.
A s9uare or an "X" hole will run and expand .
equalizer liite
from cell one
DETAIL WIJERE PVC PIP

PENETRATES EPDM LINER
The detail shown at ieft is what makes the equalizer line

leak proof. It facilitates linking cells so they act as an
overall unit. You can link one cell to a second cell, a second cell to a third cell and they can all be different shapes.
In these multi cell applications the whole last cell can be
the well for re-collection of the water for toilet flushing.
An observation stem occurs at each equalizer line.
Rjght - Typical botanical cell with o bservat ion stem at end.
148
The detail at right shows the notch

in the 3" PVC casin g to allow the
clear plastic hose to go through on
its way from the filter at the bottom of the well to t he pump panel
illustrated below.
---r-=,__ I '\
\
I
,
I
II
I I /
-" " , - I
WATER TALK
At the end ot the botanical cell (s), there must be a well to re-
The pump panel is basicall.r::J a DC pump connected to a charcoal
collect the water. In the collection well, I place a big bulb ot rock
tilter. The charcoal tilter puts the tinishing touches on cleaning
to create voids that till up with water. We place two
Y'
PVC pipes
the water betore it goes to the toilet. The pumps don't suck
down into the well. One ot these pipes is capped and used as
an.r::J more than eight teet deep and ideall.r::J, .r::Jou don't want .r::Jour
an observation stem tor determining the level ot water in the S.r::Js-
well to be an.r::J more than tour teet deep. The.r::J are mounted right
tem. We drop a hose down the other one with a tilter on it. The
near the end ot the line ot the botanical cell . The pump sucks
hose is connected to a pump panel. The hose has a tilter on the
up the gre.r::Jwater, after all that it has been through , and pushes
ver.r::J end to protect the pump trom getting clogged with gre.r::Jwa-
it to the toilet. It is on a pressure switch, so that whenever .r::Jou
ter debris. This pump panel is hooked directl.r::J to the toilet, so
tlush .r::Jour toilet, the pump sucks up water that .r::Jou took a bath
that whenever the toilet tlushes, it will suck water up trom the
in .r::Jesterda.r::J and that a lread.r::J watered a lot ot interior plants.
end ot the line ot the botanical cell (s). It's sucking up water that
You've a lread.r::J used the water two times and now .r::Jour toilet
.r::Jou took a bath in the da.r::J betore to tlush .r::Jour toilet. That
makes it a third use.
water has been going through this whol e botanical cell or series
ot botanical cells, and it's experienced oX.r::Jgenation , evaporation
We cleanse the gre.r::Jwater with three tilters after the botanical
and transpiration , bacteria encounter and basic tiltering.
cell and betore the toilet. Just betore the gre.r::Jwater gets to the
collection well, it passes through the peatmoss filter.
Peatmoss
The pump is a twelve (or twent.r::J tour) volt DC pump that runs
has a wa.r::J ot turther cleansing water and .r::Jou never have to
ott ot .r::Jour electricals.r::Jstem. The reason we use a DC pump
change the peat moss, all it does is get more and more orga nic
instead ot an AC pump is that AC pumps re9uire inverters and
and do more and more cleaning. The second filter is the one
when .r::Jou get into the whole solar power s.r::Jstem, .r::Jou tind that
that protects the pump on the end ot the clear hose in the bot-
inverters do go on the blink ever.r::J once in a while. You do not
tom ot the well in the rock bulb. The third one is a c harcoal tilter
want .r::Jour toilet tlushing capabil it.r::J to be dependent on an
o n the pump panel. It helps clean up the water a last little bit.
inverter. You want .r::Jour toilet to tlush no matter what the hell is
5asicall.r::J, .r::Jour botanical cell is a tilter itselt, but it also has,
gOlngon.
three tilters at the end and o ne (the digester) at the beginning.

This results in tlushing.r::Jour toilet with prett.r::J clean, twice used
water.
151
The detail below shows how greywater from the collection

weU is gathered in the casi ng made of 5 gallon buckets with
the bottoms cut ou t. The casing is covered with the lid
[rom one of the buckets. The DC submersib le pump will
never lose its prime. This eliminates one of the maintenance issues of the system.
WAT ER TA LK
Our current demonstration building is taking the
pump situation to another level. Sometimes the pump o n the
pump panel shown on page 150 loses it's prime due to a low
water level in the bo ta nical cell . This would be cau s, d
too
much tlush ing and not enough showering. Priming the pump is
but it is a task that we wo uld like to eliminate. S0
" ,It'.
are
a submersible DC pump that sits on the b ottom ot the

collection well in a casing m,vlc o t plastic
DC power line
t he b otto ms cut o ut and
t:1pd together
5 ga ll o n buckets with
This pump will b e
wired to a press ure switch o n a panel similar to the one on page
150. This panel wi ll also have the sa me charcoal tilter t o r the
line to greywater
. .:-
water line to run through o n its
to the toilet. We a re a lso
using this sa me d etail without the pressu re switch and tilter t o r
filter b oard and
In this case we connect the DC sub-
the recircu lation
mersible pump to a designated photovolta ic panel and whenever

the su n is out, o ur
cleans the water
is recirculating itselt. This

times over. We are locating these two
p ump casings in the last cell (tou rth cell in plan opposite) which
is being used in its
5 gallon
buckets _ '
1.-; AN:qC<-- ' I
tor the co llectio n well in this particu-
lar applicatio n. We a re still pl acing the peatmoss t ilter betore the

pump thus ca using all the
to pass through the peat-
moss tilter betore going to the t oilet or back to the beginning ot
DC pump
"' """ 11
Five gallon bucket well casing with

submersible pump.
152
the cell .
The blown up diagram at left shows a plan view of the two

"bucket casings" wWch house the pump for the toilets and
the pump for the recirculating system. Both are at the end
of the collection well in cell four of this particular botanical cell system. Corning out of one casing is a line to the
toilets and out of the other is a line for the recirculating
system. Both have a DC power line coming out. The toi let pump DC electric line goes to a panel with a pressure
switch and a charcoal filter mounted on it, much like the
one sh own on page 150. The recirculating pump has a DC
electric line going to the designated photovoltaic panel.
WATER TALK
I want to review the ke,:; aspects ot the gre,:;water treatment cell that wejust went through.
It is basica ll,:; a wate r holding tank that creates a ph,:;sicalstructure tor plants to grow in. It
gives the plants access to the gre,:;water on the order ot h,:;droponics, so that the,:; can
clean up the water with their ox,:;genation process whereb,:; the,:; suck up water and displace ox,:;gen trom their root s,:;stems into the water. The cell is simpl,:; a rubber lined holding tan k tor plants with water moving through the bottom ot it. The plants are the s,:;stem.
We do <:) 11 o t this just to get this gre,:;water to the plants and to get the plants happ,:; in a
temperate climate (indoors it ,:;ou have a winter), so that the,:; can treat this water. In additio n to what the plants do , there are the bacteria housed in the rocks in the bottom ot the
pla nte r which a ttack the bacteria in the water.
It's impo rta nt to know what the issues are, so that an,:;one who understands the issues can
ma,:;6e d o the m 6ette r than we are doing them. I have said that about ever,:; one ot the
aspe cts ot ever!) o ne o t the parts ot this s,:;stem. T his is the best wa,:; we have learned to
do it so tar a nd It works over and over again . We've seen the botanical cells go craz,:; like a
jungle - it 'sjust Fantastic.
The botanical ce ll is the issue and ,:;ou can have as man,:; as ,:;ou want. when ,:;ou link
botanical ce lls to each other, ,:;ou want to link them together low, near the bottom ot the
cell so that wate r will se e k. the same level in all the botanical cells - so the,:; can all work
together. YOLI do no t wa nt one botanical cell to till up to sponw wetness and then overt low into another one and on and on. You want all botanical cells to work together. The
cells obvious I,:; have to be on the south side ot the building, it ,:;ou are in the northern hemisphere, so that the,:; get the sun, so the plants will grow. The shape ot each cell depends
on however ,:;OU can imagine working it, but ,:;OU don't have to do much to it. The gre,:;water
makes the plants so heart,:; that ver,:; little care and maintenance is necessar,:;.
155
P LANTS TO START YOUR BOTANICAL CELLS WITH:

The entire Geranium family
Genus Tradescantia (commonly known
as the Wandering Jew family)
Bananas
Bougainvillea
Grapes
All Philodendrons
Aloe Vera
Hibiscus
P oinsettia
Jade family
Avocado
Lemon and Lime
Most herbs
Ivy
Spider Plants
Coleus
All plants should be plant ed

as soon as possible, becau se
the plants ARE the system.
156
WATE:R TA LK
The truth IS that if a botanical cell is working
shouldn't have to do
except pick bananas and grapes.
You shouldn't have to do
else. We have had, here and
there, scale on some banana trees, aphids, white flies, but it has
all been minimal and the best thing to do is do nothing. We
haven't had a situation where we've had to tear plants out. We've
had to clean. We've had to
We've introduced
with tobacco here and there.

and lacewings. We've done all the little
tricks to get rid of pests, a
minimal amount of it.
plants are so strong when the
supplies them with their
nutrients and water that

ease. We recommend
are
and
the
have to deal with bugs or disthose plants from out list as starters.
don't get bugs, some of them produce food

establish the sewage eating situation
Then if
want to incorporate orchids or tomatoes or cucumbers or

whatever,
hollow out an area in the midst of all these existing,
happening,
screaming plants, to introduce these things.
Don't start off with tomatoes, orchids, or cucumbers. Start off

with our list of plants, because
grow fast and
ingJew
take over. Our list includes the wander-
and th e geranium
to bugs and if
eat sewage without problems.
are
of sewage, because
at all,
have
are
resistant
take off.
eat a lot
hollow root
IJananas, grapes, bougainvillea, geranium and aloe are all great.

Those are the main ones. Youjust start with those,
out some
others, but at least use the basic ones that we recommend as sevpercent of
initial planting. Your first effort is to eat
sewage, to suck up water, without bugs. Then

and do whatever
on with this,
want. Once
are the expert with
nature of the botanical cell.
come back
get a clue of what's going

That's the
157
Connector line
linking Cell One
3/4" recirculation line

Submersible pump powered by
a designated solar panel.
When the sun is out, the greywater recirculates.
WATeR TALK
There are two things that make this botanical cell
There are two things that enhance this whole process: recircuBelow - digging out one
or {he cells.
lating the
through the cells and periodic Hushing of
the cells with fres h water. We're recirculating the

using a designated solar panel that runs a twelve volt bilge pump
(it's just a submersible pump) located down in the collection well
at the e nd of the line in a piece of 12" PVC (or in a 5 gallon bucket casing) . Whenever the sun's out, the pump is pumping. It
pumps th e water from the collection we ll at the end the line after
all of the botanical cells, after the peatmoss filter, afte r
thing, and brings it back to the beginning of the
which is
whatever form of grease and particle filter is there. All
lo ng
that water is recirculating, so that wate r is ge tting; access to the

bacteria that
it, access to the plant roots th at filte r it and
access to the plant roots that are shooting out

doing ten or
times over what the
It's
d oes without
recirculating. So the circulation is magnifice nt in terms of it's
FACT
Since 1950, the world population has
doubled, but water use has tripled.
159
WATER. TALK
The other thing that we do to make the botanical cells
Flushing the
in addition to filtering the particles out of the
tion of the water, is fantastic. We have
culating the
is we Hush the botanical cell with rainwa-
ter. There are portions of

able to
and recir-
home from which
collect and direct water to
won't be
cistern.
with rainwater, plus the recirculathat are in place
that are working fine without either one of these two features ,
but put these two features in, and we notice a ditterence. For
instance, the Earthship we call the Hut house does have a rain-
Taking the water at the bottom of a sloped front face is a good
water wash through it. It is one of the happiest planters that
example. The water collected here is too low to make it into the
will ever see. We don't have the recirculation
cistern. 50 we put a gutter at the bottom of the front face and
where full time
collect and direct rainwater through a filter into the
to the
But
working
it exposes the same water
ten times over, so that's great.
The understanding of the botanical cell, the understanding of

closed
that is growing the same plants over and
what's going on is crucial, notjust the building of it. Don'tjust
over tends to develop salt in the soil. You could, in ten
force it into
have to replace all of
behind it.
soil in one of these
run rainwater through it. Flushing the
with fresh
evolve this
water extends the life of the soil. No matter if it rains o nce a

month or if it rains six times a month some times and no times a
month other
through this
If
Hoor plan, but understand the concepts

understand what's going on, then
and
it into
don't understand what's going on,

this
but that's the
floor p lan
can
can
If
screw up
it goes.
time it rains, fresh rainwater is washing

It's like
teeth . It's cleaning
up the
You don't have to
about filling the botanical cell up too full
with rainwater as it has an overflow that runs out into the blackwater
161
WATER TALK
You are
toilet with twice used
And
there is no 9uestion about it--tor the tirst two or three or

tour months
could have
in the water and
could have a slight smell in the water. The peatmoss tilte r in

the planter will cause the water to be discolored at tirst, but it
clears up in a tew months. And until the plant roots get down
into the path ot the
amongst the gravel , there will
be an odor to the water. There are

this,
to get rid ot
can put toilet chlorine tab lets in there to help deal
with that. The bottom line is that after a

that
have water
don 't want to drink, but it is clear and odorless in

toi let and there is no problem with it. During th e tirst
have to get the plants established,
tune the
have to
Expect that during the tirst
have a slight sulphur smell in the water;
could
could have slight
in the water. You could even have to replace allot

components in
toilet mechanism once. It might cost
tive bucks, big deal. Itjust depends on how well

put the
when
together and how mature the plants are
begin using it. It depends on how soon
o perating, whether or not
have the
ing through it and whether or not
recircu lat-
have rainwater tlushing
through it. For the present state ot the art, allow

to tune this up. After a
are growing and
and
162
when all ot
grapes are growing in
toilet is tlushing trom that water,
be tine tor the rest ot
lite.
got it
a
bananas
living room
are going to
I think one ot the important points to understand is that it

build a new E.arthship with a new
six months to a
it will ta ke that
to mature. Once it is mature,
clean and clear tor the rest ot
tlush
lite. Accept it, because it is
better than putting sewage into the streams and rivers.
So
are
this whole
toilet with water that has gone through

and
there could be a slight smell tor the
tirst three to six months- slight,

should even use this
understand it, th en
slight. I don't think p eople
unless
understand it. It
will be tine with it. I think that's true ot
the whole E.arthship/bioshelter concept. You need to understand all aspects ot this alternate but
sible and secure
boat unless
appropriate, respon-
ot living. You don't want to go sailing on a

understand how wind tits into the sails and
maneuvers and pushes the sailboat.
The toilets shown opposite an d at left are both in the

Greater World Community in Taos, New Mexico. They
both have hook ups to the greywater pump coming from
the well of a botanical cell. In addition, they both have an
alternate hook up to the fresh water from a cistern. In
tim es of heavy rains, it is a good idea to run fresh water
through the toilets for a basic wash out. This alternate
hook up is also good in the event that the well runs short
on greywater due to over use for surface watering of the
botanical cells or pump maintenance on the greywater
pump board.
163
greywater to Cell One
washer
bathroom
sink
alternate fresh water
line to toilet
...
overflow to septic
from Cell Two
164
' " greywater line from

Cell Two to toilet
1.) All plumbing fixtures are ganged together (except for
the toilet) and taken to the three way valve. (The toilet
goes directly to the septic tank.)
2) At the three way valve there is the option of gOing to
the septic or to the botanical cell. It is this option that renders the system compliant to codes.
3) When the three way valve is open to the botanical cell,
the greywater treatment system is in use. The cligester/
grease and particle filter is the first step of [he treatment
that occurs in the botanical ceU(s). This diagram has two
botanical cells (one upper and one lower in this diagram)
connected by a 2" PVC line to allow them to seek the
same level.
4) Greywater from Cell Two is pumped to the toilet from
the small line at the end of cell two by the DC pump in the
greywater board.
5) An alternate fresh water line from the cistern is also
provided to the toilet from the Water Organizing Module
- WOM.
6) An overflow line from Cell Two going to the toilet/
septic line occurs to assure excess greywater has a place to
go. ill most cases the system is sized so there will be little, if any, excess greywater.
Left - A diagram revic'W of the basic schematic of the plumbing to set

up for a gre} water horanica/ cell.
Right - banana'i growing in a greywater hotanical cell in u home in the
GreatLr World Community in Tans, New Mexico.
WATER TALK
It :Jou are out in the ocean on a sailboat and :Jou don 't know how
to sail, :J0u're in big trouble. Similarl:J, it :Jou live in an carthship,
it's reall:J impo rtant to unde rstand all ot the concepts ot the S:JSte ms ot the hom e or :Jou could c reate :Jour own trouble. It :Jou
unde rstand the concepts, :Jou ca n understand how:Jou ma:J have
messed them up, how:Jou can improve them, wh:J the:J are being
done the wa:J the:J are being done, how to maintain pe rtormance,
etc. People tend to sit there and complain because some sewage
grid, some power grid or water grid hasn 't taken care at them, but
in an ca rthship bioshelter, it
the owner's responsibilit:J.
Take res ponsibilit:J :Jourselt tor what :Jou are dOing, und e rstand
these concepts, take them as tar as :Jou ca n, and it :Jou can tind
some thing better, great, go tor it. But get o tt the grids-get ott ot
the sewage grid, get ott ot the powe r grid, get ott ot the water
g rid. Do it :Jourselt. Here 's the wa:J ... take it or Icave it, but
understa nd that nothing is ever pertect.
building and operating
It, :Jou a re the one who can make it more pertect and this starts
with unde rstanding the concepts. I have some ot these s:Jstems
wo rking exguisitel:J and the:J a re not even evolved to the point that
I' m putting into this literature no w. I also know ot some ot them
that othe r people ha ve done and that I've done that a re old and
don't wo rk as well. It I can give :Jou the concept and the details
that we use, :Jou can sta rt trom there a nd
it :Jou trust :Jo ur own
judgeme nt well eno ugh to deviate trom our details based on :Jour
unde rstanding ot the concepts, go tor it. It :Jou make a mista l<.e,
:Jou will know it. One thing to consider is that municipal wate r and
sewage s:Jstems are tar trom pertect
and are unrelia ble
in addition to not being responsible tor the tuture we ll being ot

t hose who inherit the earth.
167
6 Water - Reusing it again

BLACKWATER
WATER TALK
Let's talk toilets. You want to get a decent, durable
toilet. It doesn't even
matter it it is a low Hush
toilet, but all toilets these
are low tlush. I have
a brand ot toilet that I like. It's sort o t an industrial

grade medium priced toilet called Manstield. I've
tried expensive
The
toilets , but I like this one best.

is not
clear when the
tem is new. It has some tine

times,
in the
matter in it at
stages ot the
and some ot the tancier toilets don't like this.

need to have parts replaced or cleaned. The
Manstield toiletjust works. I've had other toilets
that don't tlush well. It's a matter ot the toilet being
capable ot dealing with something
ot
clear water at certain times. And the

Manstield toilet works, that's alii can
other toilets, and we
There are
keep
new toi-
lets. I have had problems with the higher end

toilets. It's a matter of choosing the right toilet and
having that toilet work. A ll toilets seem to be low
tlush these
so
are talking about 1.6 gallons
per Hush . That tlush is now going out to the contained blackwater
Lett - Toilet using greywater to flush

Opposite - View of a blackwater rreatmem cell
(exterior botanical cell )
169
R. .
DC<
o
00
WATER TALK
So the toilet is tlushing with twice used water. At the base ot the toilet where :Jou have the little hook up for the water, we install two
options. We alwa:Js run both a fresh water and a gre:Jwater line there
for lots of reasons. It :Jou have a problem with :Jour gre.:Jwater pump
or .:Jou run short on gre.:Jwater due to lack of kitchen/bathroom use
ot water, :Jou can switch to tresh water. Also it's not a bad idea when
.:Jou have a rain.:J season and .:Jour cisterns are running over, to Hush
with fresh water because it runs fresh water back through .:Jour toilet
which helps clean it up a little. Itjust gives .:Jou an option it and when
it is needed . We are planning to come up with a little diverter valve so
.:Jou don't have to unscrew the toilet line from gre.:J and put it to tresh,
.:Jou wouldjust have to turn a valve. This valve will have to be designed
ver.:J carefull.:J, so the tresh water doesn't get infiltrated with gre.:Jwater. It can L c set up with a diode valve that won't let the gre.:Jwater go
3 way valve
into the fresh water but lets them both go out the one spigot. The
bottom line is having the alternate there tor back up and having the
alternate: there forjust washing through when .:JOU have a lot of rain.
Opposite -A Mansfjeld toilet flushed with a grey water supply line.

Above - The supply line runn ing Irom the grey water pump panel
to the loilel
The necessit.:J for occasional flushing with tresh water diminishes with
the new re-circulation s.:Jstem that we are now using with the gre.:Jwater botanical cell. It's possible during the earl.:J stages, the first .:Jear
or so of :Jour s.:Jstem, that the gre.:Jwater will be a little bit cloud.:Jenough to dirt.:J the mechanical parts in the toilet tank and that
The greywater recirculation system discussed in the previous chapter has made this twice used water much
cleaner, so clean, in fact, it looks just like fresh clear
water. Most of the information we are relaying about
this water not always being absolutely clear is relative to
older designs with immature plants and before the recire system
introduced.
reCJuires .:Jou to clean them. You ma.:J have to replace them tor $15 dolla rs or run tresh water through them. I'mjust alerting.:Jou that this
has happened a tew times when the s:Jstem is new and the plants are
not mature, but once botanical cell matures and the gre.:Jwater gets
reall:J' reall:J clean, atter a :Jear or so, itjust works. I' mjust alerting
.:Jou to all the potential issues that we have experienced so .:Jou will be
able to trouble shoot .:Jour own s.:Jstem .
17 1
Materials:
Conventional septic tank
NDfel
iliUiiiOf outdoor botanical cell
. al/oNl 15 square feet of planter

per pluntbifl9 flKtUre
..,fJ
bII tnstDlle4
(1) 1000 galton conventiolllJl concrete septic tanlc

II" DWV illlet line as requirM from
15' . O /I. OWV I (1) 15 I (lJ ElboW I (2) cops
(lI)sueI cllfmps ((2) 3-wny valVe (ifl'f!llulred)
on south
side ofl1urrdil19
23'1( /lO'fPOM
Itlll/genous wetlQndS plants
(80) t1am splices Et Shiner aisleS

(24.5) cubic }'tints of jlfweJ
(3) CUbic YQrQs Of concrete SQIId
reuse
m cubicyarQs ofsiu dirt
(6} cubicYQrQs ofwpsoll

(2) Wheel barrolllloods of6- irregular roclc.s
(II) used tires
Depth lr Relatloll,sfl;p to gradt can VQIjI
30' lengtlr
(Varies)
AttqCh EPOM to earth clfff
wfth bam splices Er
ShIner alsles a/l around
CO/IMln Qnd treat sewage SO t4rth Er..mer

tAbles remain (lenn and water Is aJllse/tl.
(or lanascaplng.
Convent/Ofltll septIc activity takes "Iace.
by the incubator.
-ovunowto auKilal')! cell
n is UllWnced
Co1tt4lned treDtmeM area rep/Qces or auxllamfu conventional
dm/nt1eJd.
SlOb
e b,
In tnatnrent area, water Is "lUred, transpired Qnd o}()lgenated by
Indigenous p/Qnts.
Gmvel creates "Bll.c teria Housing" for bacteriA tflQt attACk bacteria til
water.
Water' fffterea, OI(ygenaua & trrms(Ormed by bacuriQ (rfdlltRteS controlled

/Qnascapillg IY.commended 30'Iel19th (or 2 people q 10' 0" (or each
adaltlonal person Iftreatmelle aWl af)peJU$ vtl')l wet (or 60 days add
10' Ie.ngfh at low end. WaUr over(fows to nut cell before l&eI ofseptic
outlet Is reached.
'''tI-
t".
be.-,
CONVENTIONAL SEPTIC TA
W ITH CONTAINED OUTD()(
BOTANICAL CELL
The water flushed out of the toilet is called blackwater. This blackwater is sent outside for treatment in the exterior botanical cell via a conventional septic tank. The
effluent from the septic tank is totally contained an d oxygenated with plants.
Evaporation and transpiration also take place similarly to the interior botanical
cell. The real djfference is that outdoor Lndigenous plants are used rather than th e
tropical plants that can be used inside in the temperate climate created by the solar
home.
WAT ER TA LK
As the toilet Rushes , it sends b lac kwater to
a conve ntional septic tank. It's just as simple as that. We still size the septic tank to
meet code. We size it as if eve r!:)thing were
going in the re (sink water, shower wate r
and toilet wat e r) , but reaU!:) onl!:) the toilet
The outdoor botanical cells can be numerous and ganged together or singular and
sized large enough to handle the whole load in one cell. Either way, the last cell has
an overflow to allow an auxiliary cell if needed. The cells are basically used for
landscaping.
water is going in the r-e-and the toilet is onl!:)

half of !:)our water usage. That means that
onl!:) half of t he capacit!:) of the septic tank
is being used . So the s e ptic tank is twice
t he s ize it need s to be to handle the toilet.
It 's a conve ntio na l s eptic ta nk. Our s!:)stem
Opposite - a conventional septic tank wilh our I1lbhcr Iineu hotanical lreutment cell.
Helm' - an elongated hlacKwuter treatment cel l.
meets code, because we a re installing a

conventional septic ta nk. In the s e ptic
tank, an a naero bic p rocess takes place
whe rein bacte ria b rea k down the blackwate r into an efflue nt that is then capable of
being put underground a ccording to the
existing code . Howe ver, this depends on
nothing be ing put down tfle dr-ain that kills
the bacteria ca using the a naerobic process.
In toda!:)'s world t he re are so man!:) c hemicals in drain clea ners ;ind such , sold on the
market, that few if an!:) septic s!:)ste ms a ctuall!:) work p rope rl!:) . For this reason and
beca use of t he a mou nt of septic tanks on
toda!:) 's smaller building lots, we totall!:) contain and treat this e ffluent in a ru bber lined
60to, nical cell.
173
t\bove - Solar enhanced st.!pric Lank with blackwa[er trearrnem cells beyond. located
in the Greater World CommunilY,
174
New Mexico
washer
WATE:R TALK
kitchen
GREY
ATER
DRAINAGE
BRANCH
In the gre:Jwater discussion , I mentioned a three
-.
wa:J valve. IF :Jou turn that three wa:J valve a certain

wa:J, it will allow all
of the gre:Jwater to go to the
septic tank along with the toilet water. That is an

absolutel:J conve ntional s:Jstem! That is one of the
lavatory
ke:J reasons wh:J we do it this wa:J and it is one of

th e ke:J reasons wh:J we can meet code, because
inherentl:J within our gre:Jwaterl blackwater s:Jstem
tub
we have a conventional s:Jstem. The people who

enForce the codes love that. That means the:J don't
have to consider our s:Jste m and the:J can approve
the conventional s:Jstem . This allows both worlds.
The diagram at left illustrates how it works and how
:Jou can b:Jpass all botanical cells to go straight to
overflow line into septic
the septic. After the septic tank, there is another

three wa:J valve . This allows :Jou to treat :Jour
septic
tank
blackwater effluent with e ither a conventional

drainField or with our contained , exterio r botanical
cell. This results in an absolutel:J conventio nal discharge s:Jstem inherent with in our contained treatment s:Jstem.
CONVENTIONAL
DRAINFlEL
175
ou
'/.
E
c::
o
o
13
i!l
:c
V
Q)
"0
C.
E
c
:l)
c>
..c
The installation of a mu lti-celled contained blackwater

system is shown at immediate left and the system in operation is shown opposite. In the picture opposite, notice
the metal gutter at the bottom of the glass face. This is to
catch the water off of the glass face and run it though the
greywater system to t1ush it out every time it rains. This
makes the system healthier and cleaner.
The picture at left shows the conventional septic tank with
solar face as the first (and farthest) cell, then there are
three subsequent cells in this system, the last being the
final treatment of the water. Though we install an overflo w after this cell, the system is sized and designed to basically use up all the water by the time it gets to this last cell.
The Oowers in the cells shown opposite are indigenous
wild flowers that like a moist growing bed. When desert
plants are used in the outdoor cells, they get really big and
then die because they are not happy with the amount of
moisture in the cells. Indigenous plants that grow near
streams, springs and rivers are best for these outdoor
botanical cells.
Lett - Blackwater bOlanical cells under constnJction
177
.",
c:
<U
:>
-<
.0
The incubator is nothing more than a convention al septic tank

that has insulation placed aroun d it and a solar face constructed
on top. This is only necessary in climates th at have severe winters. In milder climates, the septic t ank can simply be insulated
and in very mild climates, it can be installed without insulation or
the solar face. The in cubator does require a concrete septic tan k
as opposed to the plastic ones that are sometimes used in conventional systems. The pOint here is that we are still using a conventional septic tank fo r the anaerobic process to take place in as in
a conventional system . We are just enh ancing the septic tank so
that the anaerobic process won't lie donnant in the winter.
Because we are containing the system, we cannot dump half treated effluent into the underground as a conventional system does.
WATER TALK
Now, about the septic tank. If
cold climate, we have developed a solar heated septic

tank. All that
does is heat up the septic tank with
the sun o n cold winter
and make the anaerobic
process that is going on in the septic tank more eFFective

during the cold months. Normal septic tanks , in the cold
months, even though
are underground and have
thermal mass, could get a little dormant in terms of the

anaerobic process, because it's a bacteria process.
During the winter, if it's too cold, the bacteria are too
cold to be
working. If
ate at o ptimum and
While conventional septic systems are still approved. they actually are no longer appropriate, because of the chemical products
that people put down their drains and because of the smaller sizes
of the building lots these days . The result is we are putling some
pretty vile stuff in the underground and just hoping it will go
away. Conventional septic systems were O.K. when there was
one house every forty acres and harsh chemical products like
Draino were not on the market. Now, with hal f acre lots and
many different chemkal products going down the drains, conventional systems are basically worthless anyway, even though they
are the legal way of liquid waste disposal. With our system, we
contain everything, but we use it up in many steps so there is
nothing left to leach into the unprotected ground. We still must
be conscious of what we are putting down the drain - no chemical
products - nothing that plants would not like.
are in a
want it to
ope r-
are in a cold, cold climate, put a
solar face on it. Then, other than that, it's a conventional septic tank. It has the baFFles and
anaerobic process takes place
and the
round. Th e
eFFluent then goes out of the septic tank and into our
contained treatment cell. Sometimes we put a three
valve before the cell to have the option of going into a
conventional drainfield to meet code. A drainfield would
cost about five o r six hundred bucks so
put in a co nventional drainfield to
could
code if neces-
but we don't use the m, we direct the eFFluent into

wh at we ca ll an exterior botanical cell.
179
The solar enhanced septic tank captures the sun 's heat
which is absorbed into the massive concrete tank. This
tank is insulated to contain the heat. This makes the
anaerobic process happier and more effecti ve year round.
The outdoor botanical cell(s) that come off of the septic
tank then contain an d treat the eftl uent with evaporation
transpiration and oxygenation through the use of indigenous moisture loving plants.
OpPllsilt: . at right anu helo\\ - solar enhanced septic tanks
Sewage begins to
mean greenery and
flowers and even food.
181
The New Mexico Environment Department dictates that we must size our drainfields according to the following formula:
gallons/ person/ day (of blackwater produced) x 180 days (of winter/dormant period) = volume of drainfield
7.5 gallons (in a cubic foot)
Gallons are determined by the number of people living in the home. 29 gallons of blackwater are said to be produced per person per
A 1 bedroom home = 2 people; 2BR home = 4 people; 3 BR home = 5 people; 4 BR = 6 people and so on.
The drainfield size of a typical 2 bedroom home is determined as follows: 116
" , " v ,",
=2,784 ft3
WATE:R TALK
The figures for sizing outdoor botanical

cells do not consider the solar incubated
The outdoor botanical cell that occurs after

the co nventional septic tank is designed so
that it can be Fairl.:; shallow
iF .:;ou want
septic design nor our decreased water
ground cover t.:;pe plants and a bit deeper
use, so these outdoor botanical cells are
.:;ou want shrubs and bushes. It is a rubber
really oversized.
lined , two to Four Feet deep, plant cell. It's
iF
Filled with graveljust like the indoor b otanical

cell, within about eight to twelve inches
the top. There are two inches
of
of sand to
keep the dirt From going down into the gravel

and that is covered with dirt For the plants .
We have done this man.:; times. You size the
cell (s) according to the number of people
living in the home. For a normal two bed roo m
one bath home,
.:;OU
are looking at some-
thing like twelve Feet wide b.:; Fih.:;-eight Feet

lo ng and about Four Feet d eep. The path
of
the water is similar to that of the interior

botanical cell inside, going First into a rock
bulb sometimes contained in tires. Th is lets
the water disperse immediatel.:; into the
spaces between the larger rocks .
183
The section below shows a series of cells linked with overflows that
cause one cell to fill up before water makes its way to another cell.
This results in various cells with different levels of moisture and can
have advantages when specific planting situations are desired.
A section sketch of the typical cell at right shows how the cell under
construction shown opposite will be filled. The conventional concrete septic tank is at the far end an d a single rubber lined 3' - 6" deep
cell will receive the effluent from the tank.
Upper righr - Nunh-south section of the filled blackwater LeI! shown opposite
Below - An east-west section of a seri es of exterior bot an ical cells .
san
9frlfltllshttfderi p(astidcru.1it9{ass
'1PD!J,{ ru66er
finer
/' oDservatioTf, stem.
184
WATER TALK
You want rapid absorption into this outdoor botanical
cell, so
place big rocks around where the water
comes in - the inlet. There are air spaces betwee n the

big rocks that can be tilled with water. There is
an observation stem (4" plastic pipe) over this bulb ot
rock. We do another one ot th ose at the other end
where th e outlet is a halt an inch lower than the inlet with
the rock bulb and
An overflow pipe "T"s ott
ot the observation stem and is capped until such time

that it is ever needed . This set up allows
another cell, it
to add
chance more peop le start living in
house and the original cell gets
or tull . Yo u sim-
add another cell which will treat the excess water

trom the tirst.
Now sometimes the outlet leading into another cell isjust
a little bit ott the bottom, like six inches ott ot the bottom. Then, the second cell, it
ever did it, would be
seeking the same level as the tirst cell rathe r than causing the t irst cell to till up
betore going into
the second cell. This causes the m to e9ualize.

E:9ualizing has advantages as all cells work the same
but having one cell till up and charge its plants with water
betore going on to another cell can manipulate the use
ot the water more. This should
be done with out-
door cells. Indoor cells must
be e9ualized to sup-
water at the end ot the line to the well tor tlushing

the toilet.
185
Below showing rhe series at hotuTIlcal eelb shown in !he

photo opPosite
WATE R TALK
We are using two outdoor cells in our most recent
spec home. The first cell is deeper (about 4-' -0" or
so) and the second is
shallow (about 2' -0" or
so) with a lawn on top of it. It's an experiment, but
sllaJlow lawn cell
we're sure it's going to work because the shallow cell is

going to be
damp, keeping the lawn
in the desert. We have
noticed that
when we do these rubber-lined cells, even if there is

no
or blackwa ter going into them,
ture rainwater and

faster. If
cap-
d a mp, causing plants to grow
went out into the middle of the
desert mesa and dug a seven foot wide

long
foot
two foot deep pit, lined it with plastic and
filled it back up-in two
it would be a green spot,
because it traps the moistui-,' that falls from the
According to the fonnu la on page 182 , you must build a given v olume of extelior planter space to satisfy the Environment
Department. This may be accomplished by building one big drain
field, several small ones or a combination of both_ Trees an d bushes grow well in deep cells while shall ow cells can grow grass .
Trapping the moisture that falls from the
constant contribution of blackwater effluent g}ves

an outdoor growing area, a landscaping situation,
a lawn. And the bigger
house and
more blackwater effluent
the
have and the more
can do. It won't do a hundred

hundred foot lawn. It will do a
For example, to create a secondary "lawn" cell. link the deep cell
overfl ow as low as possible to the shallower cell. This way, [he deep
cell does not have to fill up before it flows into the shallow cell.
plus the
foot lawn or green space outside with

flow that gives
foot
an over-
another small garden, but that's
about it.
187
Below - Blackwater greenhouse shields against rainfall and ac{)' as buffer lone ror the
Greywater greenhouse and interior living space
Opposite - Blackwater greenhouse mert:ly sh ields against rainfall
WATER TALK
There are situations/climates where there is so much rain that a blackwater
would get saturated with moisture From the rain and
this would render it useless For treating and containing blackwater. In this circumstance, we construct an additional greenhouse against
the building For the blackwater
This can have a dual purpose as the second greenhouse not
shields the blackwater planter
From unwanted rainFall, but it also creates a buFFer zone For the interior greenhouse against extreme exterior temperatures , resulting in
Further stabilization
of the interior temperature.
The inside
warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. This is illustrated at left.
Below, the blackwater greenhouse isjust a cold Frame over the blackwater ceiL In this case, there is no need For a buFFer zo ne,
shelter For the blackwater ceiL
GREYWATER GREEN HOU SE
'\
OpposiLe - Second greenhouse under construction
.\
/ '
Lell - A skt!tch !ltudy of a second greenhouse
The photo opposite and the study sketch at left

illustrate an application of a second greenhouse for the purpose of treating blackwater
and buffering the existing space to make inside
temperatures more stable. The enclosed
blackwater system can now produce food year
round and be protected from the moisture of
rain and snow.
FACT
About 95% of the world's

cities still dump raw sewage
into their waters.
191
CISTERNS
WATER TALK
The septic tank is placed ten teet
trom the home. when we
use a second green house tor the blackwater, we stub the ettlue nt
outlet out ot the septic tank and bring it back toward the home and
into the second greenhouse o n the south side ot the home. That
second greenhouse does two things. First, it stabilizes the temperature ot the interior spaces
creating a butter zone between them
and the outside temperature.
it creates a
temperate climate that never gets below

depending on
drool
tive or
degrees,
temperatures in the winter. This gives
blackwater treatment cell. It
have a severe winter,
the outdoor treatment cells go somewhat dormant without a greenhouse over them. Even though
performa nce ot
botanical cells diminishes when the plants
aren't growing. But it

plants growing all
tood production
have a solar septic tank, the
put them inside a greenhouse and have

long,
have sewage treatment and
We're starting to orient the whole
carthship concept to producing more tood. 50, atter the septic,

we are bringing the sewage line back into a second greenhouse.
Out ot that greenhouse, we would put an overflow that might go out
to a lawn cell or some other outdoor la ndscaping element. The bottom line is we have botanical cells that will grow
inside a
greenhouse and/or will do additional landscaping.
193
Buildings that maximize the use of these systems

take on the look of glass houses or greenhouse
botanical gardens. They are combining solar heat
gain, sewage, and multi-use plant production into
one basic set up.
WATER TALK
After all is said and done,
have a
that uses water First to
take showers, wash dishes or wash clothes. Then that water goes
botanical cell and waters a lot of
into the indoor
cool plants that create ajungle inside.

certain kinds of plants that root
bugs. Then
and are less apt to get
are using the same water that
again , For
FACT
those plants must be
toilet. Then
took a shower in
are using that same water
again For landscaping outside or For growing Food in a

greenhouse. The
green house has a two-Fold use. It
provides a temperate climate For the treatment of b lackwater and
In a few years, water scarcity will

have been translated into food
scarcity.
the production
of Food and
it f9ves
a more stable temperature
inside the building, because now the building in the First greenhouse
is going to be warmer because the second greenhouse has cut oFF
heat loss. The bottom line is
use the water tour times , the
same water. In conventional homes, brand new Fresh water is used

to take bath. Then brand new Fresh wate r is used to water house
plants. Then brand new Fresh wate r is used to Flush the toilet.
Then brand new Fresh water is used to water landscaping. In our
are using the same
That extends the use
Food may be grown in interior as well as exterior

botanical cells. To test the safety of this produce,
take a mature piece of fruit or a vegetable, chop it
up and soak it in clean, fresh water. Have this water
tested for bacteria. If none exist, then the food is
edible.
gallons of water Four times.
of wate r on the pla net, produces Food and
eliminates sewage treatment plants. It's a a Fantastic thing. It is cone volving. It is constantl!:) g etting better. You could even
appl!:) the recirculation element that we are now doing on the
water
on the blac kwater
and clean itup e ven Further.
195
One of the outdoor blackwater cells in the arid desert

Greater Worl d Community in Taos, New Mexico is so
successful at making a green jungle like oasis in the middle
of the desert that a migratory owl made it his home for a
while. Sewage presently has a negative effect on the planet. It could have a positive effect.
Opposite and Left - Photographs of a tlammulated ow l sighled in a

blackwarer botan ical cell in lhe Greater World Community in Taos.
New Mexico
197
WATE:R TALK
There are so
tricks to continuing the evolution and the
cleaning up ot the water. For example,
could start out on the middle ot the mesa in
could bring the water
Northern New Mexico where the raintall is
outside and recirculate and aerate it through a tountain. The
and build a
bottom line being that this water management
catchment, all the
trom
state. You could build
with no intrastructure and without damaging the planet in
to the blackwater cells, uses water tour
times. This eliminates the need tor housing to have a piping net-
You could do this in
ten inches a
In tact,
would be contributing to the weltare ot the
planet, because these contained sewage treatment
work going to sewage treatment plants and eliminates the need
ulti-
create green landscaping around the buildings. This
tor housing to have a piping network depleting the rivers and
tem should be used in cities and urban situations. This
a9uiters. This water management
should be used in suburban situations. This
participates in the pro-
should be
duction ot tood and contributes to other issues that make hous-
used in rura l situations. We are perfecting it, we are using it, we
es warmer in the winter. I've been living more and more with
are demonstrating it, we are
plants and tinding that, tor example, it I am in a
"coloring book" level tor people to one, understand, and two,
out plants, it's
hotel with-
I've been living with plants tor a long time-
bouganvillea and aloe and grapes and bananas.
treating
sewage, providing tood, providing Flowers, providing

tiltering the air. Besides these benetits,
and
are beautitul to
to make it simple enough on a
be able to use our details and
improve upon them. I
suggest starting with our details, understanding the concept and

then teel tree to improve upon them as
go. This particular
rap is delineating the latest ot what we have learned and know.
look at. It's amazing. This whole concept touches on so
Inside,
issues while it continues to evolve and improve. It even makes
want to use indigenous plants to
housing able to stand alone
use desert plants like cacti because
will get too much water.
You want to use plants indigenous to
area that grow nor-
couple this with the
independent power
and the heating and cooling
tems ot carthships and
could build a
You could start
out in the middle ot the Sahara desert and build a
at
want to start with our list ot plants. Outside,

area. You don't want to
altitude in damp areas where springs come out,
near rivers, near catchments, whatever.

or lilac to
to
trom wisteria
bushes, willows, even
tamarisk.
199
WATE:R. TALK
A big issue with tamarisk in New Mexico is that it grows near the rivers
and streams and has been coined as an "invasive" species. So people

to kill it
because it is notorious tor sucking up large
amounts ot water. well, it

with one ot these
are out in the middle ot the desert

the tamarisk is a perfect addition to it. I
had a bunch ot plant scientists telling me that I was a tool and an idiot
tor having a tamarisk growing in
tamarisk is something
blackwater
are
because
to get rid ot, because it spreads
and consumes water/ moisture. lSut I was out in the middle ohhe
desert. There's no
this tamarisk is going to spread into the
desert because there's no water. It was conti ned to
black water
planter and "eating sewage" tor me. There's a place tor

It doesn't have to be outlawed trom the planet. It's a natural thing.
You just have to learn how to use it. These
could not grasp the
idea that the tamarisk, though a problem in some situations, was

good in this situation.
just thought the tamarisk was bad, no
matter what the condition. wh e n something is labeled bad tor one

reason or another, people can't seem to make the leap that in another context that same thing could be
good. This is much like the
used automobile tires that we build with.
have been labeled in
one context as garbage, so people can't accept that in another context
are a great building material. It doesn 't matter it the
tamarisk is in a situation where it is doing a tremendous amountot

good, eating sewage, it is considered bad. People need to understand that ditterent times, ditterent places, ditterent temperatures,
dittere nt positions and ditterent conditions turn dross into gold and
vice versa. We've got to allow things to happen and understand the
and the
and the
sue this idea. We're

the world. That is water in
ot things enough to pur-
with it right now. We can take it all o ver

world .
20 1
No one has the rfght

to rUin the air 'you breathe. " .
No one has the right
to block the sun's warmth trom ,Your skin ...
No one has the right
to predetermme ownership at the water
that taIls mto
cupped hands .. .
h-om the skIJ
l(n

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We live in a time when many parts of our planet are experiencing water shortages.

There's a well driller in Taos, New Mexico

be tought over water. "

1 Water - Facing the Facts

2 Water - Conservation and

6 Water - Reusing it again

1 Water - Facing the Facts

If there are economic crises,

Almost anything that happens in the future can result in

If there is political turmoil,

Sustainable home in the Greater World

Water harvesting will need to

The water supply that comes to a conventional kitchen

we live on this planet . .. we're like a c hic ken

standing in its water dish taking a drink and taking a

doing that on this

planet. Santa Fe and Albu9uer9ue, New Mexico have

taking the Rio

Grande, which means that the Rio Grande wouldn't

turns out that the wate r reservoir, London's wate r,

Left - interior of a water harvesting home in the

We must begin now ...

Somewhere beyond intellect,

It is time for our methods of living to find concordance

toot in diameter water pipeline

trom the Cascades d o wn t o New York

d o ing t o move water

trom one place to ano ther . New York

chuckling on th e news station, "Well what

Water pro blems are all over the

and the wo rld b ecause we' re sucking it

o ut ot the a9u it ers and the a9uiters are

are th e a9uiters dimin-

ot lite - with sewage at the

other end ofour water use - is

A tree doesn't need a support system - it is a system. A shelter of the future

That which contributes to its

"overall system" is for us to harvest water in individual

A con ventional home and conventional

2 Water - Conservation and Management

Treating and R eusing Greywater

8. At the low end of the botanical cell, water is directed

Treating and Reusing Blackwat er

The result is a conventional se wage system that

WATER USE IN A CONVENTIONAL HOME

GAL. PER CAPITA PER DAY

Toilet (1.6 gal/flush x 6 flush/capita day) --------------- 9.6

TOTAL ------------------------------------------------------ 83.9

83.9 GALLONS PER DAY

167.8 GALLONS PER DAY

whatever, and it aFFects

ultimate global cha nge.

Left - Looking from the living room into

Water demands for single family dweUings can be greatly

WATER USE IN A BIO-SHELTER

GAL. PER CAPITA PER DAY

19.3 GALLONS PER DAY

38.6 GALLONS PER DAY

Left - Greywater treatment

The water requirements of a "conventional home" mean nothing when it

shouldn't the home itself encounter the

environment and get water trom the

Efforts must be made now to evolve and demonstrate that