Now I know I am not a financial wizz, but sometimes it seems to me that it might be cheaper (and politically astute) for the goverment to install rainwater tanks and solar heating for everyone instead of building new dams, de-salination plants and new electricity generation plants. Would be better for the environment, surely?
oh, I agree. At least with water tanks. However I heard that the reasoning behind the desalination plant is that it doesn’t rely on rainfall…
I would install a tank except that I cannot afford the associated costs – like replacing the rusted out gutters and having the roof cleaned, etc.
If I were being cynical I would suggest that they are only interested in projects they can charge for. Otherwise what would happen to the rather large business of providing utilities if everyone became independent of them?
bluegreen said:
oh, I agree. At least with water tanks. However I heard that the reasoning behind the desalination plant is that it doesn’t rely on rainfall…I would install a tank except that I cannot afford the associated costs – like replacing the rusted out gutters and having the roof cleaned, etc.
If I were being cynical I would suggest that they are only interested in projects they can charge for. Otherwise what would happen to the rather large business of providing utilities if everyone became independent of them?
You are not being cynical…you have hit the nail on the head. But if they were really serious about climate change they would be looking at strategies such as these. Sometimes though, to quote that old cliche “they can’t see the forest for the trees!” and they don’t know the KISS principle.
I am really against de-sal plants. I would rather see storm-water capture and treatment instead. But again not being a financial or scientific wizz I am probably trying to over simplify things
AnneS said:
Now I know I am not a financial wizz, but sometimes it seems to me that it might be cheaper (and politically astute) for the goverment to install rainwater tanks and solar heating for everyone instead of building new dams, de-salination plants and new electricity generation plants. Would be better for the environment, surely?
Yes but people have become used to bowling-green quality lawns and would not be prepared to go back to the bare-dirt-unless-it’s-rained backyards of our childhood (in the 50’s, 60’s)
after watching the gruen transfer i figured out how the big end of town works
-conference room – present: top politicians, marketing men and lawyers – objective to maximise profit thru’ sale of things like licences, utilities, information and education courses, tourism and taxation.
- industry and commerce – next in line – objective – to market value added products, increase employment, improve turnover and achieve growth.
- the professions and retail – third in line – objective to retail expertise and merchandise with a view to increasing consumption and thus achieve financial targets.
- did i forget someone? – oh yes – the people – not important really they just consume and follow fashions.
this seems to be the strategy – and its the same if they are talking clothing, rainwater tanks or gardening.
—————————————————————————
your question implies that we should all go out and consume solar and water tanks – which is great – helps the economy and all, but do we have the rain, raw materials and energy to sustain the idea?
I have a dream….. and in that dream, when me and hubby buy our dirt block and put a cheapie house on it, we will attend clearance sales and such and stock up on 2nd hand water tanks, solar pannels are going up. It is cheaper to purchase a two way power transformer from AGL than it is to set up back up gennie’s and such, about 4-5 thou’ and if you get a couple extra panels, you will get money back, septic tank, and then the council can go suck air for a portion of the utilities named on the rates bill, ‘cos i wont be using any!! Add a filtered out door rubish furnace (that you can build your self) and i will be as happy as a clam. Oh and the grey water re-cycle system hubby already organised will feed the garden to be, the house cow to be, the chooks and breeder chooks for pocket money, and the flock of sheep, we ave the begginings of and we’ll be set. Well till we discover we missed something.
not such a dream really turkeymum.
those italians and greeks on vasilis garden were like that.
they collected the rain water in a tangle of old 44 gallon drums, they used the same garden stakes for 16 years, made their own olive oil from feral olives growing on the roadside and found room in their crammed packed backyards to grow a few grapes for homemade wine.
they do illustrate that you can enjoy a good life style without always consuming more stuff.
pepe said:
your question implies that we should all go out and consume solar and water tanks – which is great – helps the economy and all, but do we have the rain, raw materials and energy to sustain the idea?
one might question the rain – but it doesn’t take much rain to fill a tank from a roof top. An awful lot of rain ends out down the storm water drains and out to sea that in the absence of houses, road, and other infrastructure would be soaking into the ground or running into natural water courses, swamps and lakes. One of the reasons Australia has become so dry, IMHO, is that we have diverted a lot of the rain water from the land’s ground water before it even gets there. And what is already there we are steadily sucking dry.
Turkeymum said:
I have a dream….. and in that dream, when me and hubby buy our dirt block and put a cheapie house on it, we will attend clearance sales and such and stock up on 2nd hand water tanks, solar pannels are going up. It is cheaper to purchase a two way power transformer from AGL than it is to set up back up gennie’s and such, about 4-5 thou’ and if you get a couple extra panels, you will get money back, septic tank, and then the council can go suck air for a portion of the utilities named on the rates bill, ‘cos i wont be using any!! Add a filtered out door rubish furnace (that you can build your self) and i will be as happy as a clam. Oh and the grey water re-cycle system hubby already organised will feed the garden to be, the house cow to be, the chooks and breeder chooks for pocket money, and the flock of sheep, we ave the begginings of and we’ll be set. Well till we discover we missed something.
you’ve been peeking!! lol!
I lived at the time in a town of 20,000. The Shire were wanting to do a $20 million expansion of the water filtration system.
I was on the committee discussing plans and projects and I suggested “why not just give everyone a rainwater tank?”
Nope they weren’t interested. I’ll bet they wished they had now.. twenty years later.
Turkeymum said:
I have a dream….. and in that dream, when me and hubby buy our dirt block and put a cheapie house on it, we will attend clearance sales and such and stock up on 2nd hand water tanks, solar pannels are going up. It is cheaper to purchase a two way power transformer from AGL than it is to set up back up gennie’s and such, about 4-5 thou’ and if you get a couple extra panels, you will get money back, septic tank, and then the council can go suck air for a portion of the utilities named on the rates bill, ‘cos i wont be using any!! Add a filtered out door rubish furnace (that you can build your self) and i will be as happy as a clam. Oh and the grey water re-cycle system hubby already organised will feed the garden to be, the house cow to be, the chooks and breeder chooks for pocket money, and the flock of sheep, we ave the begginings of and we’ll be set. Well till we discover we missed something.
One of the reasons Australia has become so dry, IMHO, is that we have diverted a lot of the rain water from the land’s ground water before it even gets there.
—————
prof. john argue has devised a system of putting all stormwater runoff into proven underground aquifers and pumping it back up to the surface in summer. it has resulted in the world famous salisbury wetlands between lucky’s place and mine.
the trouble with tanks is they don’t hold enough water – we consume 100 litres each per day – some of us 400 litres – which means we need between 30K – 150K of water storage each per year.
pepe said:
One of the reasons Australia has become so dry, IMHO, is that we have diverted a lot of the rain water from the land’s ground water before it even gets there.
—————
prof. john argue has devised a system of putting all stormwater runoff into proven underground aquifers and pumping it back up to the surface in summer. it has resulted in the world famous salisbury wetlands between lucky’s place and mine.
the trouble with tanks is they don’t hold enough water – we consume 100 litres each per day – some of us 400 litres – which means we need between 30K – 150K of water storage each per year.
Out at White Cliffs standing in the store.. and there is this young city slicker camper type there asking where he can get rainwter as the tank at the hall is emptyy.. and Ray the kind hearted shopkeeper says I can maybe help you out mate how much do you want?
The young man said; “well there is four of us and we use 8 litres a day each plus there is cooking and washing.. We are going to need more than 50.. up to 80 litres a day for the next week..”
Poor old Ray looked sadly at the man and said.. “mate., look I seriously believe that you had better pack up and go home to the city. There is no way I can spare that much water.” What he didn’t say is .. “fercrysakes.. we live here and we get by on a lotless than that!”
bluegreen said:
pepe said:your question implies that we should all go out and consume solar and water tanks – which is great – helps the economy and all, but do we have the rain, raw materials and energy to sustain the idea?
one might question the rain – but it doesn’t take much rain to fill a tank from a roof top. An awful lot of rain ends out down the storm water drains and out to sea that in the absence of houses, road, and other infrastructure would be soaking into the ground or running into natural water courses, swamps and lakes. One of the reasons Australia has become so dry, IMHO, is that we have diverted a lot of the rain water from the land’s ground water before it even gets there. And what is already there we are steadily sucking dry.
Exactly! So eloquently explained and what I was getting at about stormwater capture
pepe said:
One of the reasons Australia has become so dry, IMHO, is that we have diverted a lot of the rain water from the land’s ground water before it even gets there.
—————
prof. john argue has devised a system of putting all stormwater runoff into proven underground aquifers and pumping it back up to the surface in summer. it has resulted in the world famous salisbury wetlands between lucky’s place and mine.
the trouble with tanks is they don’t hold enough water – we consume 100 litres each per day – some of us 400 litres – which means we need between 30K – 150K of water storage each per year.
but the usage of tanks would decrease the demand on current dams. You could use tank water for selective use, e.g. flushing toilets, washing clothes and watering the garden, while still using treated water for cooking and drinking and to top up as required.
roughbarked said:
I lived at the time in a town of 20,000. The Shire were wanting to do a $20 million expansion of the water filtration system.I was on the committee discussing plans and projects and I suggested “why not just give everyone a rainwater tank?”
Nope they weren’t interested. I’ll bet they wished they had now.. twenty years later.
When I first moved to the south coast in 1986 town water was just being put on in Sussex Inlet. Everyone was made to get rid of their rainwater tanks….now they give rebates to people to install rainwater tanks. A bit screwy eh?
AnneS said:
bluegreen said:
pepe said:your question implies that we should all go out and consume solar and water tanks – which is great – helps the economy and all, but do we have the rain, raw materials and energy to sustain the idea?
one might question the rain – but it doesn’t take much rain to fill a tank from a roof top. An awful lot of rain ends out down the storm water drains and out to sea that in the absence of houses, road, and other infrastructure would be soaking into the ground or running into natural water courses, swamps and lakes. One of the reasons Australia has become so dry, IMHO, is that we have diverted a lot of the rain water from the land’s ground water before it even gets there. And what is already there we are steadily sucking dry.
Exactly! So eloquently explained and what I was getting at about stormwater capture
pepe said:
not such a dream really turkeymum.
those italians and greeks on vasilis garden were like that.
they collected the rain water in a tangle of old 44 gallon drums, they used the same garden stakes for 16 years, made their own olive oil from feral olives growing on the roadside and found room in their crammed packed backyards to grow a few grapes for homemade wine.
they do illustrate that you can enjoy a good life style without always consuming more stuff.
There’s a sports oval near my mum’s place with trees planted around the outside, including quite a few olive trees. When you drive past on the highway you often see people collecting the olives :)
Poor old Ray looked sadly at the man and said.. “mate., look I seriously believe that you had better pack up and go home to the city. There is no way I can spare that much water.” What he didn’t say is .. “fercrysakes.. we live here and we get by on a lotless than that!”
———————-
i met a bloke from the mallee who said his family of four had lived all their lives using only a 10,000 gallon rainwater tank.
we flush about 9 litres of water down the toilet every time we press the button.
bon008 said:
pepe said:
not such a dream really turkeymum.
those italians and greeks on vasilis garden were like that.
they collected the rain water in a tangle of old 44 gallon drums, they used the same garden stakes for 16 years, made their own olive oil from feral olives growing on the roadside and found room in their crammed packed backyards to grow a few grapes for homemade wine.
they do illustrate that you can enjoy a good life style without always consuming more stuff.
There’s a sports oval near my mum’s place with trees planted around the outside, including quite a few olive trees. When you drive past on the highway you often see people collecting the olives :)
Permaculture planned housing allotments were designed with communal orchard/garden planted on the stormwater drain swathe..
AnneS said:
Now I know I am not a financial wizz, but sometimes it seems to me that it might be cheaper (and politically astute) for the goverment to install rainwater tanks and solar heating for everyone instead of building new dams, de-salination plants and new electricity generation plants. Would be better for the environment, surely?
AnneS said:
Sometimes though, to quote that old cliche “they can’t see the forest for the trees!” and they don’t know the KISS principle.
pepe said:
your question implies that we should all go out and consume solar and water tanks – which is great – helps the economy and all, but do we have the rain, raw materials and energy to sustain the idea?
Well, even if we couldn’t exist solely on collected rainwater, it would sure take the pressure off the mains…although I think that industry really needs to look at THEIR water consumption to make a dent in reducing the amount wasted.
bluegreen said:
pepe said:your question implies that we should all go out and consume solar and water tanks – which is great – helps the economy and all, but do we have the rain, raw materials and energy to sustain the idea?
one might question the rain – but it doesn’t take much rain to fill a tank from a roof top. An awful lot of rain ends out down the storm water drains and out to sea that in the absence of houses, road, and other infrastructure would be soaking into the ground or running into natural water courses, swamps and lakes. One of the reasons Australia has become so dry, IMHO, is that we have diverted a lot of the rain water from the land’s ground water before it even gets there. And what is already there we are steadily sucking dry.
but it doesn’t take much rain to fill a tank from a roof top
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have a 10,000 litre tank fed by my shed.
Roughly an inch of rain puts a foot of water in the tank.
The shed is 9m x 7m.
In my climate, it is no problem to run a house on 2 of these size tanks, because we get consistent showers all year round.
I reckon in Adelaide, you’d want a massive tank to be self reliant, as Summer rain may be completely non existent.
There are systems available for tanks which allow your tank to drop to 25% and then are constantly topped up by mains water to maintain the 25%. If it rains and the level goes up, the mains shuts down again.
I reckon this is an excellent method.
I have a solar hot water system being installed a week after Easter.
It will cost me $1000 fully installed with 5 yr warranty. I pay $3400 up front and the Govs return $2400 to me.
It’s two panels on the Nth facing roof, the tank is under the eave where my existing one is.
It has Mains power backup for extended cloudy days, but i can turn this off if i want.
I can also turn the whole thing off if i’m going away, so even the pump isn’t running.
roughbarked said:
AnneS said:
bluegreen said:one might question the rain – but it doesn’t take much rain to fill a tank from a roof top. An awful lot of rain ends out down the storm water drains and out to sea that in the absence of houses, road, and other infrastructure would be soaking into the ground or running into natural water courses, swamps and lakes. One of the reasons Australia has become so dry, IMHO, is that we have diverted a lot of the rain water from the land’s ground water before it even gets there. And what is already there we are steadily sucking dry.
Exactly! So eloquently explained and what I was getting at about stormwater capture
I had an impossible time over in SSSF talking about water tables and ground water and aquifers.. no one seemed to get it. that even if we had flood yars that it would be taking far longer than we need to replenish the water we have lost. Same goes for trees and salinity repair by the way..
…and each year the government doesn’t do anything, the problem becomes harder to fix.
If a plan had been implemented even as recently as 20 years ago to make rainwater tanks mandatory with every new house built, we may not have had to have the severe water restrictions of the past few years. Why don’t governments have any vision? If we can see this and come up with possible solutions, why can’t they? Sorry I’m just ranting now, BG already answered that one.
Longy said:
but it doesn’t take much rain to fill a tank from a roof top
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have a 10,000 litre tank fed by my shed.
Roughly an inch of rain puts a foot of water in the tank.
The shed is 9m x 7m.
In my climate, it is no problem to run a house on 2 of these size tanks, because we get consistent showers all year round.
I reckon in Adelaide, you’d want a massive tank to be self reliant, as Summer rain may be completely non existent.There are systems available for tanks which allow your tank to drop to 25% and then are constantly topped up by mains water to maintain the 25%. If it rains and the level goes up, the mains shuts down again.
I reckon this is an excellent method.
Now that sounds sensible. As many have said, even if the tanks were only used to supplement the mains supply it’s still got to be better than what is currently wasted
Longy said:
I have a solar hot water system being installed a week after Easter.
It will cost me $1000 fully installed with 5 yr warranty. I pay $3400 up front and the Govs return $2400 to me.
It’s two panels on the Nth facing roof, the tank is under the eave where my existing one is.
It has Mains power backup for extended cloudy days, but i can turn this off if i want.
I can also turn the whole thing off if i’m going away, so even the pump isn’t running.
That is the same with mine. I actually manually control when to turn the booster on (like I did this morning because we have had a couple of overcast days). I like to have control over when the bboster cuts in
Longy said:
but it doesn’t take much rain to fill a tank from a roof top
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have a 10,000 litre tank fed by my shed.
Roughly an inch of rain puts a foot of water in the tank.
The shed is 9m x 7m.
In my climate, it is no problem to run a house on 2 of these size tanks, because we get consistent showers all year round.
I reckon in Adelaide, you’d want a massive tank to be self reliant, as Summer rain may be completely non existent.There are systems available for tanks which allow your tank to drop to 25% and then are constantly topped up by mains water to maintain the 25%. If it rains and the level goes up, the mains shuts down again.
I reckon this is an excellent method.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
If you practice self regulating your water consumption “if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown, flush it down” was a great quote. And re-cycle all waste water for gardens and such, yoou cut your overall consumption way down.If you have more than one tank, we plan to add on to the overflow of the first tank,you can manage a whole house and a decent vegi’ patch on rain water alone. So we will put in as many as we have water for. And every shed and roof will have a tank of some description, be it a drum on a tool shed or a couple of big tanks on a house.
Now, one thing i think alot of you wonderfully intelligent factual folk are forgetting, in your description of we use it so the land looses it debate, is that a hell of a lot of otherwise usable, land sustaining water, unthinkable amounts of gigalitres, is lost on bitumen streets, and flows direct to the sea via storm drains. There are farmers in parts of this country growing rice and cotton for cripes sakes!By flood irrigation, no less! In the driest continent. There are dams in QLD that hold more water in volume than sydney harbour entire ( illegal and unregistered dams at that, think of the sheer evapouration!!) If more people took the effort to supply their own water requirments, there would be less call for big dams, water de-salination, and more water could be left to reach the water table. When you realise the value of what runs down the drain, you get miffed about silly use of water. If big farmers want to use gigalitres of good water to sustain unsuitable but cash rich crops, they should be made to treat and use waste/storm water. We live near the Coorong and the lower lakes, and we get alot of info’ about who uses what waterwise. S.A only uses about 2% of the entire flow of the murray, compared with the rest of the length, yet we cop the consiquences of everyone elses use. We (as a state) win industry awards for water usage in grape growing and orchard care. We admitedly do it because we have to, but if we all did it….. ?
Turkeymum said:
… is that a hell of a lot of otherwise usable, land sustaining water, unthinkable amounts of gigalitres, is lost on bitumen streets, and flows direct to the sea via storm drains.
that was the point I was trying to make…
water that, if it weren’t for us, would be soaking into the ground.
Turkeymum said:
Longy said:
but it doesn’t take much rain to fill a tank from a roof top
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have a 10,000 litre tank fed by my shed.
Roughly an inch of rain puts a foot of water in the tank.
The shed is 9m x 7m.
In my climate, it is no problem to run a house on 2 of these size tanks, because we get consistent showers all year round.
I reckon in Adelaide, you’d want a massive tank to be self reliant, as Summer rain may be completely non existent.There are systems available for tanks which allow your tank to drop to 25% and then are constantly topped up by mains water to maintain the 25%. If it rains and the level goes up, the mains shuts down again.
I reckon this is an excellent method.—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
If you practice self regulating your water consumption “if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown, flush it down” was a great quote. And re-cycle all waste water for gardens and such, yoou cut your overall consumption way down.If you have more than one tank, we plan to add on to the overflow of the first tank,you can manage a whole house and a decent vegi’ patch on rain water alone. So we will put in as many as we have water for. And every shed and roof will have a tank of some description, be it a drum on a tool shed or a couple of big tanks on a house.
Now, one thing i think alot of you wonderfully intelligent factual folk are forgetting, in your description of we use it so the land looses it debate, is that a hell of a lot of otherwise usable, land sustaining water, unthinkable amounts of gigalitres, is lost on bitumen streets, and flows direct to the sea via storm drains. There are farmers in parts of this country growing rice and cotton for cripes sakes!By flood irrigation, no less! In the driest continent. There are dams in QLD that hold more water in volume than sydney harbour entire ( illegal and unregistered dams at that, think of the sheer evapouration!!) If more people took the effort to supply their own water requirments, there would be less call for big dams, water de-salination, and more water could be left to reach the water table. When you realise the value of what runs down the drain, you get miffed about silly use of water. If big farmers want to use gigalitres of good water to sustain unsuitable but cash rich crops, they should be made to treat and use waste/storm water. We live near the Coorong and the lower lakes, and we get alot of info’ about who uses what waterwise. S.A only uses about 2% of the entire flow of the murray, compared with the rest of the length, yet we cop the consiquences of everyone elses use. We (as a state) win industry awards for water usage in grape growing and orchard care. We admitedly do it because we have to, but if we all did it….. ?
All very well said turkeymum. :)
during the war years solar hot water heaters were mandatory in some states .. from memory.
The education department no longer funds rainwater tanks for schools though it used to be a requirement.
Storm water is water that normally should need little treatment for use on crops, particularly that storm water which flows inland and not from city streets.
Storm water in most towns and cities is also full of waste products an litter., chemicals and solids.
We need to clean up our act so that the water from storms contains only the contaminants that nature has left on its surface.. In some cases such as after bushfires or droughts there will be ash and dust contaminants but in most cases if we didn’t put our crap in there the water would be relatively clean.
Rainwater tanks are currently frowned upon under mitigation of mosquito borne diseases and bacterial infections not to mention spray drift or smog depositions on roofs.
There are many issues which need to become not so much regulated but more just facts of life in Australia.. It is about time we did start living in tune with our very environs. Long overdue in fact.
We need all houses to be fitted with new style guttering which collects water pre cleaned of falling leaves and many other contaminants(as seen on new inventors). All houses to reuse their grey water for various purposes where the water becomes cleaner rather than dirtier.. natural filters are for a start / your garden. Which every household should have whether they are in tall apartment buildings or not. Waste space in cities should be used for communal gardens and be watered by stormwater collected Roof area on skyscrapers should be roof garden.. it is such a good concept that would improve so many climatic factors. All rainwater if collected from every roof will vastly reduce the amount of water running away in storm water drains.. Yes I believe it was mentioned by turkeymum that the soil is the safest and best reservoir for water storage. if it is in your soil your plants can use it. if it runs away down the gutter it picks up cigarette butts and dumps them on pristine bushland or in waterways and eventually the sea. All rainwater apart from that used to clean contaminants from your roof before collecting the clean water should be run into a series of tanks .. ie as one fills the overflow goes to another and another depending on area available for water storage and definitely to reduce energy consumption, powered pumping of water should be avoided as much as possible unless solar power or wind power or gravity and water pressure/air pressure components are used.
Water running across land: Well we have so much concrete and tar that all this is a huge watershed which turns roads into channels. The same roads and other infrastructure deny the land its natural surface flows.
We have people wanting to turn coastal rivers inland when they have made arrtificial rivers which run inland water.. offshore or.. into what would otherwise be the wrong place.
read some of my whining about all that in the Murray Darling Basin thread <— over in scribbly http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/newposts/411/topic411886.shtm
My main point there is that we are still treating Australia’s wateways the same way we treated the Tank Stream and we are still getting the same results.
Two main things we must consider are .. that we stop trying to use agriculture to prop up Australias export trade agreemenst and only feed ourselves.. stuff the rest of the world .. They have to learn to do the same thing.The other would be to start sending people home and not invite any more in.
We have not got the water.. Maybe in time we will have more water if we act correctly but if we don’t, our immigration policy will kill us because there is no water nor water infrastructre or water usage plan which can support any more immigrants at this point in time.all houses to be fitted with new style guttering which collects water pre cleaned of falling leaves and many other contaminants(as seen on new inventors)
>
I should add that such guttering also enables covering of the water channel so that mosquitoes cannot breed. It also reduces the plastic wastes from plastic leaf gutter guards as they break down and fall to bits.It does not collect leaves for those in fire prone areas to worry about but yet still allos the collection of clean water fit for drinking.
No I don’t agree with those who want to flush toilets and wash clothes in clean rainwater(apart from final rinsing). Yes the storm water is better for that purpose.. all we need to do is separate the two. I can see that rainwater collected in cities .. full of smog.. may well not be fit for anything else than flushing toilets if it isn’t filtered first.
.If you have more than one tank, we plan to add on to the overflow of the first tank,you can manage a whole house and a decent vegi’ patch on rain water alone. So we will put in as many as we have water for. And every shed and roof will have a tank of some description, be it a drum on a tool shed or a couple of big tanks on a house.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Yes i agree TM. Do you live in a dry area?
As i said, i could easily exist on 20,000 litres because we have reliable rain year round.
Someone in a place that gets 300mm a year in the Winter would need huge water storage space, recycling, reusing etc alone would still make it a large expense to get setup properly..
Longy said:
.If you have more than one tank, we plan to add on to the overflow of the first tank,you can manage a whole house and a decent vegi’ patch on rain water alone. So we will put in as many as we have water for. And every shed and roof will have a tank of some description, be it a drum on a tool shed or a couple of big tanks on a house.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Yes i agree TM. Do you live in a dry area?
As i said, i could easily exist on 20,000 litres because we have reliable rain year round.
Someone in a place that gets 300mm a year in the Winter would need huge water storage space, recycling, reusing etc alone would still make it a large expense to get setup properly..
Very importantly correct Longy.
In dry climates one has to go a very long time between drinks despatched from Huey’s post office.
Water has to last a good while and is expensive to house.
however.. That being said.
Storm water from your roof can do this..
it can be first flushed into a tank which needs treating before drinking or washing in so.. can flush the dunny or be sent to a recycler.(usually the first ten minutes of rainfall).
A channel switch causes it to:
then be sent via filters to a tank which is fine for drinking washing and supplementing garden water supply.
Some of this can be sent to a tank specifically for domestic drinking water use and this tank may be chlorinated and flouridated if you wish, by your choice.
The rest can be stored in various tanks and overflow storage tanks even if some are underground and pumped back later to a height where gravity can feed it to either house or garden.
Some of this such as for washing machines or showering may have to be pumped to get enough pressure, though after using a bushmans shower one wonders what is wrong with the concept of doing just the same thing in a house. firstly we know all about cisterns and we know all about bushmans waterbag showers.. why not marry the two and be able to get only the contents of the bag and no more.. shower over until the cistern refills.. Why do we have continuous high pressure water available in showers? No one needs any more than a waterbag full really and the pressure from a good head makes the waterbag shower ideal.
Solar hot water for the person happy to limit showers to the waiting time to fill a hundred metre black poly pipe lying in the sun.
There are so many simple ideas which are not being put into use. ask any hippie.. they’ll tell you you are a whiner.. get out there and do it..
Yeah there are heaps of methods. Most people, ie your average Joe, are either not interested or it’s all too hard or expensive.
OK for people likeTM who have a goal, i don’t doubt they’ll make it work and with some good planning should have minimal problems.
For Joe though, these systems need to be idiot proof, setup at a competitive price and pretty much maintenance free, or it’ll be all too hard. They just want to turn on the tap and water comes out. They can manage to be water misers if it’s all laid out how to go about it, as has been proven in Brisbane where the water use has been cut incredibly, but for a full system in their house, i reckon most would shy away from it due to ignorane, disinterest, laziness etc.
For water minimization, the number of houses using these types of methods would have to be in the majority, or there would be no perceivable difference in domestic water consumption. Just giving everyone a free rainwater tank might be a nice start but unless it’s utilised properly, not much woill come of it.
Actually, i’m looking at purchasing a little pressure pump for my tank, so i can use it solely on my new vegie patch. I saw some cheapo ones yesdy for $130.00. 60 days warranty. No thanks. Think i’ll get a Davey or something with a bit better warranty. Aussie made is good. Any suggestions?
Longy said:
Think i’ll get a Davey or something with a bit better warranty. Aussie made is good. Any suggestions?
I wasn’t unimpressed with my davey
but hey treat it like a baby.. wash its nappies and put it away at night and it will last a goodlyl while.I wasn’t unimpressed with my davey
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Yeah i’ll have a gander Monday.
Mr Rudds prezzy is getting a flogging. Look like purchasing a Cast Chiminea too this week.
That’ll about burn it all up i reckon.
Hope my efforts are appreciated.
Turkeymum said:
Now, one thing i think alot of you wonderfully intelligent factual folk are forgetting, in your description of we use it so the land looses it debate, is that a hell of a lot of otherwise usable, land sustaining water, unthinkable amounts of gigalitres, is lost on bitumen streets, and flows direct to the sea via storm drains.
Actually, i’m looking at purchasing a little pressure pump for my tank, so i can use it solely on my new vegie patch. I saw some cheapo ones yesdy for $130.00. 60 days warranty. No thanks. Think i’ll get a Davey or something with a bit better warranty. Aussie made is good. Any suggestions?
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the cheapos – GMC ? – seem to have a mixed following in that some say they are terrific and others say they are lemons.
i don’t know – the only pumps i’ve had are
- finsbury 3 phase electric submersible
- second hand briggs and stratton 3 phase electric.
- a little honda petrol pump that was separate to the honda motor that worked the rotary hoe.
i’m not much help as all 3 phase electric are terrific but the single phase, diesel and petrol pumps are mainly reliant on the motors that drive them. honda is worth a look if they still produce pumps.