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Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is a practice of growing importance in the United Kingdom, particularly in the South East of England where there is less water available per person than in many Mediterranean countries.〔 〕 Rainwater harvesting in the UK is both a traditional and reviving technique for collecting water for domestic uses.〔 〕 This water is generally used for non-hygienic purposes like watering gardens, flushing toilets, and washing clothes. There is a growing demand for larger tank systems collecting between 1000-7500 litres of water. The two main uses for harvested rainwater are botanical uses, like gardening for plant irrigation, and domestic uses, like flushing toilets and running washing machines. Rainwater is almost always collected strictly from the roof, then heavily filtered using either a filter attached to the down pipe, a fine basket filter or for more expensive systems like self-cleaning filters placed in an underground tank. UK homes using some form of rainwater harvesting system can reduce their mains water usage by 50% or more.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Rainwater harvesting )〕 == History == Prior to the widespread use of water mains, RWH was a traditional means of getting water in the UK.〔 Even as far back as the 2nd-century AD, archaeological evidence shows that rainwater harvesting was being used by Housesteads Roman Fort in Northumberland as a way to flush the latrines.〔 〕 English castles from the 12th and 13th-century also have notable rainwater harvesting systems, such as Carreg Cennen,〔 〕 Orford,〔 〕 and Warkworth Castle.〔 〕 In the 19th and the early 20th century, prior to widespread access to water mains, most large middle-class homes got their drinking water from springs and wells, but this water was usually hard which made it unsuitable for washing. Thus, such homes were usually designed to also harvest rainwater to be used in washing.〔 〕 During the interwar period, houses in hard water areas were sometimes built with rainwater storage tanks forming the roof of a scullery. Rainwater was led down to a third tap for washing purposes. Rainwater harvesting declined in popularity as water mains became more widespread through the early 20th century onwards. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rainwater harvesting in the United Kingdom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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