g'day amy,

we have yup no rain and an empty tank says it all you can buy water
though.

we have 3 X 5,400 gallon tanks, when they are full they last a long
time, we also monitor water use and check tank levels to see when some
belt tightening is needed. we don't wash rust buckets we wait until it
rains for that event, as some city folk do and we don't water lawns as
some other city folk do. we share a bath (no showers they are
wastefull and also very hard to monitor water usage, plus unless you
have the shower over a tub you can't save the water for other uses).

we use a waterless composting toilet (now don't lots of city folk turn
their noses up at that idea oh don't worry so do those who move to
rural and won't give up the bad habits). our grey water goes to the
food trees. we use a twin tub washer and one load of water generally
does all the washing as does 1 load of rinse water we wash the
cleanest stuff first, and on those occassion that the bath water
doesn't look that dirty we use it in the w/machine.

we water vegetable or food plants only no roses or pansies here. and
in dry spells when rain is scarce we leave grass long as cutting it
dries out what moisture you may have.

and then it's just mulch, mulch, mulch and more mulch, end result we
don't water our citrus or stone fruit trees.

generally you will find anyone in the city who buys a tank will only
buy something of 1,000 gallons or less in lots of cases available
space limits the choice, but there are still lots of folk who could
put in biger tanks ie.,. 3,000+ gallon sizes.

we save all our night water so nu flushing that with good drinking
water here it goes to select vegetables after adding some water to
make it go further. now imagine if more city folk bit those bullets
maybe just maybe there wouldn't be a water shortage.

i could go on but better put the soap box away for now.

len

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 04:11:46 GMT, "Amy Lou"
wrote:


"BCL" wrote in message
news
I have just spent about $1700 on a couple of water tanks plus the
necessary fittings just to store less than $5 worth of water (5000
litres).

Admittedly I will get $400 back from the water board but wonder on
reflection whether it was worth the money and effort just to be able
to water the garden and wash the car!

If you are relying on rain to fill the tank what happens when there is no
rain? No washing the car and the garden goes brown? Perhaps it wasn't worth
it, because it doesn't take long to use up a tank load of water.

Amy


--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
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