Many eco-minded individuals are striving for partial or complete energy independence in their homes. By striving for energy independence, you can reduce your energy consumption by a significant amount and limit your reliance on external power sources. This is especially useful for those living in rural areas, where energy can be costly due to its distance from the main power supply of cities and suburbs.

The Link Between Water and Energy

Though many people do not immediately see how water and energy are interconnected, our water systems consume more energy than we think.

Water treatment processes consume a sizeable portion of a city’s energy – according to the Water Services Association of Australia. Water treatment and heating in New Zealand and Australia can account for as much as 20% of a city’s overall energy consumption. In some areas, wastewater plants can use up as much as 40% of the total energy consumed per year. Collectively, this adds up to 45 million tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere annually.

This is why saving water also results in saving energy – if you want to achieve energy independence in your home, switching to a passive wastewater system can greatly reduce your energy consumption and create a more eco-friendly system.

A Sustainable Treatment Option

Sewage systems for rural residences can easily be converted into a passive wastewater system. At NaturalFlow, our wastewater treatment system is completely power-free and is an important step in achieving energy independence while still being able to maintain a modern lifestyle.

We use a simple, natural system that does not require any high-tech electronics, making use of the natural ecosystem to clean and recycle wastewater.

In our system, the black water is separated from the grey water at the source. The black water is then sent to the WORMORATOR, which is a specialised vermiculture chamber that breaks down any residual solids.

One of the advantages of using worms to process wastewater solids is that it is a completely self-reliant system – the chamber creates an enclosed ecosystem that filters the liquid, retains the solids, and allows the worms to break them down into water-soluble nutrients.

Once the nutrients filter down and are purified, the resulting water is safe to be reintroduced into the environment. The worms produce no chemicals and are entirely independent.

Lower Maintenance Requirements

Since passive wastewater systems are self-sustaining, its use can greatly reduce your maintenance costs. In many cases, you don’t even need a pump, as the water travels down the system by itself using the natural slope of the land.

By reducing the amount of energy that goes into water treatment, you can do your part in reducing the environmental strain and becoming energy independent. This creates highly resourceful, self-sufficient homes that still have all of the amenities of a modern house, including clean water and clean energy.

Want to learn more about our natural sewage systems? Contact NaturalFlow today and see how it can improve your home. Download our brochure, or call us on 0800 628356. Our team is standing by to assist you.