4/03/2011 (Farmers Journal)
Rainwater Harvesting aims to cut farm costs
The new Rainwater Harvesting Scheme opened for applications on Tuesday, 1st March. The scheme will give grant aid to farmers to
help them invest in rainwater harvesting facilities and related equipment.
The twin aims of the scheme are to conserve water by maximising use of rainfall run off from farm sheds and to reduce water costs
on farms. Colelcted rainwater cannot be used for domestic purposes.
Grant aid is only available for the collection and storage of rainwater harvested directly from shed roofs. The scheme will remain open until
31 December 2013. It has been allocated funding of €8million.
As the funding is capped, a priority system will be applied to all applications. Top priority will be given to young, trained dairy farmers
because dairy farms require high volumes of water for lactating cows and for washing.
Grant Rate
The scheme will provide grant aid at a rate of 40% up to a grant ceiling of €10,000. The maximum investment (total spend before grant is received
) that is eligible for grant aid is €25,000 per holding. The minimum is €2,000.
For all applications the 40% grant aid will be calculated on the lowest of the following amounts:
The reference costings of the department.
The total of invoices marked "paid", net of VAT, together with costs if any of a farmer's own contribution in terms of labour and machinery.
The cost of the project as proposed by the applicant on the application.
Where some or all of the work is carried out by the farmer or family members, then the hours worked and the relevant dates must be submitted, broken
down for each approved investment item. Where own machinery is used, the hours worked and the dates involved and the hourly rate charged must be shown.
Payment will be made if the hours claimed and the rates charged for the machinery are deemed appropiate by the department. Where an invoice or receipt
is not denominated in euro, evidence of the exchange must be provided.
Application Rounds
The scheme will open for applications in a series of rounds of funding. All applications received in a round will be assessed under the priority
system. Any applications that is not successful in a particular round will be automatically carried forward to the next assessment.
Prioritised
Applications will be assessed under these criteria, which are ranked here in order of priority:
Applicants whose farms are regarded as requiring heavy usage, e.g dairy farmers.
Applicants whose proposed costs are lower than the Departments refernces costs.
Applicants that involve installing a water treatment unit or a storage tank with treatment unit.
Young trained farmers.
Applicants with any part of their holding (owned or leased) in a disadvantage area.
Planning permission
All rainwater storage tanks must have either planning permission or a formal exemption from a local authority. In practice, this will mean planning
permission. All other equipment that is eligible for grant aid under the scheme does not require planning permission or exemption.
Eligibility
The scheme is open to farmers who own or lease the site proposed and who declared a minimum of 5ha under the Single Payment Scheme in the current or preceding
year. Applicants must also have between 80 production units and 1,000 production units in total at the time of application.
Deadline
All works must be completed within two years of the date of approval. According to the terms and conditions, extensions to this deadline will not be
granted on force majeure or other grounds.
Investment Items Eligible for Grant Aid
Guttering on existing buildings (round and box) including downpipes.
Filter Mechanism: fine and coarse filters. Maximum of one filter per downpipe, appropiately protected.
Buried drains to direct rainwater from gutters to rain storage tank, including manholes with covers.
Sump tanks and sump pumps for distribution of rainwater to overground storage tanks.
Tanks for rainwater storage must be covered. This includes precast conrete cast in situ, fibreglass and plastic, both under and over ground, all with covers.
Water Treatment devices using either chlorination or UV treatment, appropiately protected.
Water meters for piggeries to prevent increase in water usage due to rainwater harvesting
4/03/2011 (Farmers Journal)
New Spec due for Rainwater Scheme
A Farmer who receives grant aid under the new Rainwater Harvesting Scheme will have to comply with a Department of Agriculture Specification
now being written for the scheme.
Design of Systems:
A rainwater harvesting system involves collection, filtering and storage of rainwater. Further treatment of the collected rainwater is necessary
to make it potable and, therefore, suitable as drinking water for lactating dairy cows and for washing milking machines, bulk tanks, etc.
This further treatment is optional under the new grant scheme.
Roofs
Only rainwater from roofs can be harvested i.e. rainwater cant be harvested from yard areas. Rainwater may be collected from tiled, metal and fibre cement
roofs but not from asbestos-cement roofs.
Tanks
Tanks may be constructed of conrete, steel, plastic or GRP. Above ground tanks will have to be insulated and opaque to minimise the
potential problems of freezing, warming and algal blooms.
Under the scheme rules, all tanks will require a solid cover and screened ventilation to prevent entry of dirt.
Tanks will require a calmed inlet to prevent the disturbance of any sediment at the bottom. Where feasible, a floating
extraction point from the tank will have to be used, approximately 100mm below the surface of the water. Otherwise, a fixed extraction
point may be used, 150mm to 200mm above base.
Where more than one tank is used, the pipework connection must ensure through-flow of water to avoid stagnation.
Where mains water is fitted to the tank as back up, there must be back flow protection.
Tanks will have to be fitted with an overflow outlet attached to a suitable clean water drainage system.
Tank Size
The capacity of the rainwater harvesting tank will have to be sufficient to hold between seven days and 18 days rainfall from the collection
area. The capacity will be calculated from the average annual rainfall, the size of the collection area and the demand on the harvested water
Filters
Rainwater Harvesting systems will require proprietary self cleaning filters to remove leaves, moss, etc.
Water Treatment
Where used, UV treatment systems and chlorination treatment systems will have to be sized, installed and maintained in accordance
with the manufacturers recommendations.
Gutter/Drains
Rainwater must be collected by leak proof gutters/valleys and fed thorugh downpipes into piped drains. Drains will bring harvested
rainwater to the storage tank. Where an overground tank is used; a sump will be constructed to hold a pump that will transfer the rainwater
in to the storage tank.
