> Efficient Water Usage and Storage - Page 3

Then to that figure add on the cost of replacing any items you will 'loose' or be unable to support without the mostly guaranteed supply of the water tank. i.e. think expensive none drought tolerant plants (and veggies). Difficult to work out precisely but for some people this could be a rather expensive replacement cost.

Another factor to consider, thats very Australian, is that in bush fire prone areas having a large water tank with the right attachments can help the fire services in fighting fires - so reducing the potential risk of fire damage to your property by proxy... In theory your insurance should cover you, but I'd opto for doing without the trouble in the first instance!

Where to put your water tank?

Now you should have an ideal figure for the amount of water you need to store, so next you need to think about where to put it... Remember 1000 litres takes up 1 cubic meter (no getting away from that, its physics!). Also remember most tanks come in height multiples of around a meter (plus 50 cms for the top). Also councils have weird and wonderful restrictions about where the tank can go (think boundary and overshadowing). Plus if its over 10k litre it will usually have to be covered under some form of planning permission.. So think about this hard. Also you can have more than one tank easily enough and that might be cheaper than digging out a massive hole. Also remember when you take the water 'out' of the tank you want its water pressure to be of use to you if at all possible, i.e. put a tank high on your plot under the 'highest' roof, so you can water your garden using just gravity and no pump!

Keeping your water clean..

An important part of the rain water process is trying to avoid leaves and other 'undesirables' getting into your tank water. Look at the following:

• First flush diverters - these work, although they do require you to clean out the mechanism on a regular basis (i.e. twice a month); otherwise the filters just clog and you end up with dirty water just standing in the diverter..
• Slow water traps - basically an inline section of pipe bigger than the input pipe in a U bend configuration with an access hatch at the bottom. Idea is the water slows up through this section and the heavy stuff sinks to the bottom to be later removed via the access hatch.
• Gutter leaf guards - simple and effective. Bunnings sells a self fit mesh for about $10 a roll. Just remember to make sure you pull it flush to the roof line in the gutter, i.e. no gap behind it for leaves to accumulate and rot in. If you are replacing the whole gutter look at SmartFlo.
• Water tank 'flush' outlets - this is where either the overflow mechanism in the tank is linked to a pipe running along the bottom of the tank, so the force of overflow 'hovers' out the dirt at the bottom of the tank. The other form is a simple bottom outlet to dump the dirty water at the bottom.
• Water tank entrance filters - quite common these, but make sure to check them once a month and clean out the rubbish. Also make sure to keep the cover on them, or the light that gets through the filter could start growing 'things' in your tank.
• Water overflow 'gates' - these are simple spring loaded flaps to stop wildlife going up the pipe and nesting in your tank.

Efficient Water Use

Now that you have gone to all this trouble of collecting water, you need to ensure you get the best benefit from it.
Water so collected can be used in the home in the following places:

• Toilet flushing, and,
• Washing clothes

This may not sound like a lot, but these two uses can account for up to 70% of typical water usage if combined with garden watering..
Now add onto this the following cases:

• Washing the car, and,
• Topping up your pool

You can get up to 85% water usage from your tank, i.e. only 15% of your water usage comes from the mains.

Watering plants

Assuming you have a tank and you want to water your plants from it, you need to do the following:

• Buy and install an irrigation timer with a battery backup and 6 zones - why 6 zones? This means you can set up 6 different types of watering 'types' in your garden - which should cover all types of plants. Also make sure its also wired up to a rain sensor - no point watering after a good shower.
• Put in place a drop irrigation system for permanent plants - this can go under the mulch..
• Always mulch! - evaporation due to the surface heat will rob your plants of upward of 60% of the water you give them without mulch! With mulch the water 'hangs around' longer - so you will not need to water so often to maintain the plants.
• Make sure your soil is not 'aquaphobic', i.e. does not absorb water - you may need to add more organic matter. Easy test for this just put some of the soil on a surface, make a small well in it and put some water in that well - if the water just sits there, in a bubble, you have soil aquaphobia. Note: there all sorts of 'fancy' treatments for this, but you really need to get the basic quality of your soil up to really overcome it in the long term.
• Always water in the evening (i.e. after 4pm in most places) as evaporation will be less. Also, if watering around the house in summer, you will get some benefit in cooling from the evaporation that will occur. Also house plants are good to have for similar reasons.

More efficient water use, to even not using any!

May seem a strange thing to mention - but if you really are keen to cut back on using your water, or do not have much water to spare, there are some alternatives..

• Composting toilets..
• The brick or full water bottle in the cistern trick - basically reduces the volume of the cistern, so reduces the amount of water per flush..
• Any ground water drains should ideally 'drain out' near to things which can benefit from the water - a horizontal section of drain pipe on the end with 1 inch holes in it can be used to reduce the washing out effect on the surface soil.
• Water saving tips from the ATA
• Stormwater capture and reuse from the ATA
• All about greywater systems from the ATA