Water tank is empty

It has not rained for some time. Western Australia has not had any benefit of the increasing rainfall everywhere else in Australia. this is a typical La Nina, wetter all around, WA drier. The Lleuwin current is about three degrees warmer than usual and this affects out rainfall just as much.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2011	30.2	0.4	0										30.6
2010	0	0.2	40.4	25	88.6	51.4	142	63	43.6	20.6	11.6	17.4	503.8
Average	9.5	12.7	19.5	44.1	117.5	175.7	169.7	133.6	80.6	52.2	22.1	12.8	850

No rainfall this month and only 9mm in February. Our suburb got a bit more than the official metropolitan rain gauge. Dams are at a record low and so is my water tank.

It has been in place for only two years and I don't think it was time to clean it, that's a task for the end of the next summer. It does not empty as such because the tap is about 50cm above the base line. When we put it up we were so excited to finally get it in place that we forgot to insolate the tap's neck. And soon the rain started filling it so there was not opportunity to change the tap without spilling all the precious water.
Small amounts of water have been leaking from the tap all around the year and allowed a blanket of green algae to grow on the outside of the tank.

Time to get rid of this stuff and making sure it does not affect the tank water. Who wants algae in their water tank? We really want to drink the water if possible and use it in the garden all through summer.

I got the tape out, wound it around the neck of the tap, got rid of the algae with a soft brush and screwed the tap back into place. It's looking good and now waiting for the rain! Last year we had the first storm on 22 March and it was a terrible hail storm that resulted in a lot of damage, loss of power and trees stripped of their leaves.

At the start of summer I was calculating how long the water would last. I think I though it would run out by the end of January, but with a ittle bit of December rainfall and tw showers in January is lasted until mid March. That makes me happy. Although I cheated and from December only watered half of the garden beds with the watering can and used mains water for the rest. I can't wait to see the water usage bill to calculate the total of water that I have been using in the garden.

The garden is quite barren at the moment, only the spring onions are looking good. I planted a few more zucchinis and tomatoes, as the plants were coming up from seeds. Also coriander is just coming up well and the basil is still doing fine. I grow two different varieties, one with straight leaves the other one with a more curly Italian variety. Some pumpkins have survived the mildew attack and are doing fine, capsicums and chillies are thrieving. Sweet potatoes love the weather. Still, if we only had rain soon!