Sustainable Living
Water Supply
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The supply of water has been an ongoing concern from the first day we camped on the land in 1974. For the first three summers, we brought water in plastic versions of jerry-cans from a spring more than a mile away, by boat if the weather permitted, otherwise carried on our backs over the thorny hills. We cooled it in traditional island ceramic stamnoi, and used it sparingly, only for drinking and cooking. For all other needs, even brushing teeth, we resorted to the sea.
Those years built in us an appreciation for water not typical of a modern city dweller. We began developing in situ sources of water in 1977, with the development of a spring by the sea, and, by late 2007, we had put into place the last piece of a supply and delivery system. It is rather complicated by virtue of its incremental growth, but we believe it will serve us well into the future.
Water collection
We collect water from two main sources: rain and the aforementioned spring by the sea.
At the time we bought the land in 1972, the seller had told us that fresh water trickled from a rock by the sea, but that it was underneath the beach and about 50 cm below sea level. It was not until 1977 that we mustered the energy and the resources to dig down to the spring, clear away sand and pebbles, and cast around it a concrete cistern, in order to isolate the fresh-water trickle from sea water and to collect it. We estimate that it yields about 170 liters per day, or 5 cubic meters per month. (In recent years, this well water has turned brackish, due to etensive drilling of deep wells around the island.)
Over time, however, our water needs grew, as we succumbed to such luxuries as indoor plumbing, and they continue to grow with each tree we plant. Demand for more water was also generated by an increased number of visitors and by various construction projects. Thus, in the 1985-87 GBB II addition, we incorporated the first rainwater collection cistern, an 11.5 cu. m. reservoir with a flat roof that serves as patio and main sunset-watching platform. It collects water from approximately 70 sq. m. of roofs and paved surfaces, and it has aways been full by the end of the rainy season in the spring.
We draw out the water through a trapdoor by buckets and use it to water nearby plantings that are not on the automatic drip system.
The second rainwater collection cistern was completed in November 2007, and it has a capacity of 150 cu. m. It is located in the ravine, in a naturally formed pocket, so that its considerable volume is buried, with only the roof visible from the top, and the west wall from the sea. Water enters it through a siphoning system designed to catch debris coming down the ravine. The ravine, however, only flows during a downpour. Water from rains is also collected from about 1,000 sq. m. of “clean” surfaces: the cistern roof itself, the bare rock in front of it, the paved driveway, and the eastern half of the compound, where water drains into a sump, from which a pump sends it into the cistern. The average rainfall in the Cyclades in 40 cm. per year, and it takes only 15 cm collected from our 1,000 sq. m. to fill our 150 cu. m. cistern.
Water exits the cistern from the bottom. A 2-inch pipe connects the cistern by gravity with the spring well on the beach, from where a float-activated pump sends it to the holding tanks (described below, under “water distribution”). Along the way, the 2-inch pipe connects to the overflow from the 11.5 cu. m. rainwater collection cistern (patio). Various valves control the flow from these sources. In summary, the logic of this gradually-evolved collection system is based on the following:
Gather every drop of water possible in collection cisterns
Connect all collection cisterns, by gravity, with the spring well
Use only the pump in the well, at the lowest point, to send the water to the holding tanks
Water Distribution
On a platform located above all building structures, and about 20 m. above the spring well, stand three interconnected rubber holding tanks of 5 cu. m. capacity each. They receive the water pumped from the well by the sea.
The pump operates when water is manually released from the 150 cu. m. cistern to fill the well, and push up a float. (We empty the well of its brackish water first.)
From the holding tanks, water flows by gravity through a filter to a pressure pump. Downhill, along the way, are located our first, small rubber tank and our original concrete cistern, now employed as reserve tanks for emergencies.
The Automatic Watering System
With increased water storage capacity, we have been able to fill new terraces with bushes, flowers and trees. But as plantings expanded, hand-watering became an increasingly tedious chore. In 2006, we installed a drip watering system, tapping the highly professional services of Stella Cabeli of IRRITEC/SIPLAST. In order for it to work effectively, we installed a pressure pump; a cubicle built behind the original small concrete water cistern houses the pump and the computer for the drip system.
The pressure pump supplies the automatic plant watering system and the plumbing for the kitchen, the three bathrooms, and various outdoor faucets. It is also connected to a solar water heater located on the same platform as the photovoltaic panels. This heater provides hot water to the nearby master bathroom, which includes the clothes washer. A separate system supplies hot water to the kitchen sink.
We place more trust in our water than in the bottled water everyone else on the island drinks. By general concensus, it has an excellent taste and, so far, no one seems to have experienced adverse effects.
Waste Water
The kitchen sink and the three toilets drain into dedicated cesspools located as close to the sources as possible. These are relatively small (0.5 – 1.0 cu. m.) holes in the ground consisting of a siphon system of three chambers: two small concrete compartments where solids are held until they break down; and a larger earth compartment where liquids are absorbed into the ground. We do not flush toilet paper, and periodically we introduce bacteria that digest fats. Trees and/or bushes are planted next to the cesspools and these seem to be our best-growing specimens.
Gray water from the master bathroom (sink, shower and washing machine waste) is piped directly to a planter, where it seeps below ground to water the roots of four thriving cypress trees.
Post-Script: Although we presently have sufficient water for both people and plant needs, we still practice conservation. Drought has become a recurring weather crisis for the entire country. We are cognizant of the fact that a large water cistern will be of little use if winter rains fail to fill it.
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