Tuesday, July 5, 2011

New water tank

Everybody is celebrating that the dry spell is over. Winter rains have arrived in Perth and given us a good downpour. Highest daily rainfall was just under 60mm on 25 June. Still, there is no reason to talk abut a wet year. March was totally dry. April and May had below  average rainfall and even the 'wet' June did not reach the average rainfall for Perth. It remained actually 4mm under the average. Here is the chart again, from http://www.watercorporation.com.au/R/rainfall.cfm:

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecTotal
201130.2 0.4 0 19.4 85 171.4 42           348.4
201000.240.42588.651.41426343.620.611.617.4503.8
Average9.512.719.544.1117.5175.7169.7133.680.652.222.112.8850

July has started well, with already 42mm in just three days. The weather has changed a few days ago, it is now quite cold and dry but sunny. Night temperatures have dropped to 3 degrees which is not unusual for the temperate climate in Perth.

The desire to catch as much rain as possible for use in summer made us buy another polyethylene water tank. We went again for 3000l again, to match the size of the first one. This one is a good one. Like the other one it came with a tap to harvest the water. The inbuilt overflow has a cover with mosquito mesh. The tank also has a filter for the big inflow area on the very top of the tank which allows it to be filled to the very top. We don't want to waste any of the 3000l, apart from the one that is below the waterline of the tap and difficult to access anyway. I can't wait to water the garden with rainwater during the coming summer. Twice the water in the tanks should last twice as long. I guess it will give us plenty to smile about all the way through summer.

Our water bill in the last half year has dropped considerably. We actually used 50,000l less water than the six months before. Surely the cause was more than just installing a rain water tank. It happened through being conscious and mindful of the use of water in our lives and through following all the water saving tips promoted by the Water Corporation. However, the water tank was the motivator, that it clear to me. It changed our attitude towards the availability, usefulness and preciousness of water.

The new tank was on special because of end of year sale. I saved the delivery fee of $65 and tied the tank to the ute with some proper straps. It was easy to handle and I unloaded it with my children. We rolled it in the garage on my boy's skateboard and there it stayed for a few days until we brought it through into the garden on the weekend.
The tank was a lot cheaper and is a lot better than the last one I bought two years ago from the same company. Both tanks don't match. They are different makes, but they at least have the same colour. Also, they do not stand next to each other anyway, and design purposes have rarely been a deciding factor for purchases in my life.

The inlet of this new tank is close to the side of the tank and it therefore can be positioned straight under the gutter's down pipe. The gutters got a good clean, amazing how much compost gathered in there. It went straight into the raised garden bed.

This time we did not need to prepare the base for the tank much, as the location already has some proper bricks that were laid evenly. The last time we used some rock samples as a base, compacted down with dirt and held in shape by garden bed shaping made out of thick plastic. It has worked well so far. Despite the overflow from the full tank running straight down the tank with a danger of eroding the base, it still looks good.

All that needs to be done now is to undo a few pop rivets, remove the downpipe and put the tank in place. It fits neatly under the gutters and will catch a part of the roof that previously ran off freely. I guess the roof inflow area is about 50m2 or about half the size as for the other tank. 1mm will bring in 50l. 60mm should do then to fill it. There is hope this winter. July has 100mm to go to last year's rainfall and 120mm to average rainfall. We have a few days grace to put it up, make sure the foundation is right as well.

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