Dave's Wacky Garage Bill
Dave Levac is at again with his proposed "Garage Bill" (Bill63, Building Code Amendment Act (Storm Water Harvesting), 2008) that would require storage garages (your typical car garage) to include a storm water harvesting system before a building permit could be issued. In other words you would have to install a cistern below the garage floor when building a garage. Dave's thinking (if that is what it can be called) behind this is that the water collected in the cistern can be used for outdoor watering thus lessening the use of treated water on lawns and flowerbeds etc.
So instead of pouring a simple pad for the garage floor an excavation would have to be made for the cistern. Then either a poured cistern or a plastic or fiberglass cistern would be installed. Gutters would also have to be installed to collect the rainwater and divert it to the cistern. A pump would need to be wired in to pump the water out of the cistern and plumbing would need to be installed to carry the water out to your hose or sprinkler system. Depending on the size of the cistern (I couldn't find a size requirement in the summary of this Bill on the internet) homeowners are looking at an additional cost of at least $4,000. Mr. Levac says that builders would adapt to this requirement. Of course they will. They will simply add the extra cost on to the cost of the house or garage.
Beside the initial cost of this system, when you use the water you will be using hydro to pump the water out of the cistern and because most people water in the evening, when under the new smart metering system ( an oxymoron if there ever was one) this is when hydro will be at its most expensive. So any savings you gain from not paying the municipal water system will be more than gobbled up by the charge from the provincial hydro system. And which branch of government is it that Mr. Levac represents?
Other problems with this proposal are: because the cistern is under the garage floor, if a leak or some other problem occurs you will have to have your garage floor busted up and then replaced at a considerable expense. Also the area of collection from a garage roof is small and unless the cistern is quite large in drier summers, if the cistern water is used much, your cistern will probably run dry. But many plastic cisterns require that the cistern be kept at least a quarter full or the warranty is void. So instead of using city water to water your lawn you will be using it to fill your empty cistern. Some savings! And if your cistern is dry all that expense will be for nothing anyway. With a cistern the material used on the roof where the water is collected should not be wooden shakes or asphalt shingles treated to prevent the growth of moss and mildew, thus decreasing the life of the garage roof. More expense. But then when has a Liberal ever worried about expense to the taxpayer when they can stick their nose in other people's business and pretend that they care about the environment at the same time while accomplishing little.
Let's hope that this private member's bill is never made into law because this proposal stinks, which is also a problem associated with cistern water.
So instead of pouring a simple pad for the garage floor an excavation would have to be made for the cistern. Then either a poured cistern or a plastic or fiberglass cistern would be installed. Gutters would also have to be installed to collect the rainwater and divert it to the cistern. A pump would need to be wired in to pump the water out of the cistern and plumbing would need to be installed to carry the water out to your hose or sprinkler system. Depending on the size of the cistern (I couldn't find a size requirement in the summary of this Bill on the internet) homeowners are looking at an additional cost of at least $4,000. Mr. Levac says that builders would adapt to this requirement. Of course they will. They will simply add the extra cost on to the cost of the house or garage.
Beside the initial cost of this system, when you use the water you will be using hydro to pump the water out of the cistern and because most people water in the evening, when under the new smart metering system ( an oxymoron if there ever was one) this is when hydro will be at its most expensive. So any savings you gain from not paying the municipal water system will be more than gobbled up by the charge from the provincial hydro system. And which branch of government is it that Mr. Levac represents?
Other problems with this proposal are: because the cistern is under the garage floor, if a leak or some other problem occurs you will have to have your garage floor busted up and then replaced at a considerable expense. Also the area of collection from a garage roof is small and unless the cistern is quite large in drier summers, if the cistern water is used much, your cistern will probably run dry. But many plastic cisterns require that the cistern be kept at least a quarter full or the warranty is void. So instead of using city water to water your lawn you will be using it to fill your empty cistern. Some savings! And if your cistern is dry all that expense will be for nothing anyway. With a cistern the material used on the roof where the water is collected should not be wooden shakes or asphalt shingles treated to prevent the growth of moss and mildew, thus decreasing the life of the garage roof. More expense. But then when has a Liberal ever worried about expense to the taxpayer when they can stick their nose in other people's business and pretend that they care about the environment at the same time while accomplishing little.
Let's hope that this private member's bill is never made into law because this proposal stinks, which is also a problem associated with cistern water.
posted by The Grouchy Old Man at 7:04 PM
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