Cost of water

[pepe]

I am looking in alternatives to cut my water bill and found this webpage from a german producer.

http://www.ecorain.eu/praesi_en.swf

Is there anyone using these irrigation mats already and what experiences have they made over the time?

What are other users thinking about it???

Thanks for your help

[johnoconner]

Just gave EcoRain a ring and asked for some additional information.
They gave me the contact of a supplier company called Vital Gardens which is located in the Algarve aswell.
Tel.: 933 746 345

[Gambrinus]

That is a really interesting system.
The only thing I kept wondering whilst reading the brochure, was how it would cope with our mediocre water quality in summer. I tend to worry about the long run and try to look for a good reason not to spend money on something which at first glance looks like the mutts nutts.... so here goes.

Whilst places like Abu Dhabi treat salt water untill it can be used for domestic purposes, the water in most of the Algarve gets extremey hard over the summer and most water dispensers need to be treated after a year or so.
Sprinkler heads have the advantage of being easy to clean/replace when they clog up, but I can't see how you would maintain this system when the fleece stops seeping because it is calcified.

It has a lower water throughput, so I suppose you could probably treat the water in the deposit before pumping it through the system, but the installation and maintenance of a water treatment system will throw the profit margin back considerably. Plus, there is only so much "treatment" you can administer before the water becomes useless.

Obviously the system has not been around long enough to actually test the "long run", so testing the durability under the harsh Algarve conditions would be an interesting experiment.

Now, where did I put my lab rats?

[johnoconner]

If the water has so much lime concentration as here in the Algarve, it might be advisable to install a water softener.
Also it might be important to use some acid products to clean through the possible incrustations.

[Lesley Jean]

I thought you couldn't use water from a softener in the garden as it kills the plants, we had to leave some pure water taps outside for the garden system.

[Barry]

Agree LJ. When we had a water softener installed, the water to the external taps was not softened, since the plants need the minerals. Also, think of the amount of salt you would use in the softener.