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:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2011	30.2	0.4	0	19.4	85	171.4	42						348.4
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

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.

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!