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!

I suppose if the drought doesn't break in about a year's time I won't
be washing in bottled water but still...


Regards
Bruce

Does make you wonder?

When I bought my current house (in town) a little over 12 years ago I
approached the council about putting in a rainwater tank and was told I
could lodge the necessary BA but it would be rejected because it wasn't
necessary and their policy was to reject such applications.

I had been living on acres for many, many years and used to limiting
water usage at dry times, but I do like drinking unadulaterated
rainwater.....hey, a little frog's **** adds to the flavour, but they
wouldn't permit that......NOW, it's a different story and they are
giving a 'rebate' to fit a tank!!!

Some may say 'the times they are a changin' I'm the first to agree they
have to, but it does seem a complete turnaround to their 'policies' 12
years ago, only because it suited the powers-that-be.

HC ;-)

BCL wrote:
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!

I suppose if the drought doesn't break in about a year's time I won't
be washing in bottled water but still...


Regards
Bruce

g'day bruce,

dunno 3 years ago we bought a 4,500 litre tank for around $700, and
the last 24,400 litre tanks we bought cost $1800 each, but as an
observation from one that relies on tank water 5,000 litres won't last
long with continual use if there is no rain to top it up my advice to
gardeners is got for around 9,000 to 15,000 litres at least.

of course available space comes into play as always.

len

snipped
--
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
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

"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).

Geeze, I pay ten times that for my water! The water itself is actually free
but I have to pay to have it delivered by truck.

I don't understand why water, which is becoming more and more precious these
days, is still so cheap.

Amy

"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!

I suppose if the drought doesn't break in about a year's time I won't
be washing in bottled water but still...


Regards
Bruce

Yes, now you can thumb your nose at the bureaucrats who want to stop car
washing & gardening. Selfish *******s don't want anyone to enjoy life just
coz they don't have one.
Jim
In sunny SW Qld.
Will storm today. I washed the rain gauge.

BCL wrote:

Admittedly I will get $400 back from the water board

Where are you?

I understood that in sydney, you actually had to connect it to your
toilet to get the cash back.

Not much good to us as we already have two rainwater tanks, which lets
us water what we want whenever.

We have installed 4 tanks for the garden and a tank for excess water, to
flush the toilet. At present the cost of installing these tanks isn't
'worth' the money, as water in Australia is so cheap.

However, water restrictions will probably increase, rather than decrease
,in the future. Global warming is here to stay, and Australia will get
dryer as a continent as a result.

We water our whole yard on the tank water during summer, and throughout
the rest of the seasons we flush the water down the toilet.

Between 2 people we use less than 200 litres of 'town water' per day.
This is the amount that would be allowed on a level 5 water restriction.

Do you think Sydney is going to have even more severe water shortages
than it has now ? From recent 'studies' it indicates that this will be
the case.

Unfortunately our politicians and the bureaucrats that run our country
only need to worry about a 4 year term. They don't have very many, if
any sustainable long term plans in regards to water planning, including
grey water systems.

So your tanks in 5 years time may seem more 'worth it' than they do now.
Monetarily you may not recoup your loses for some time, but you will
find that continues water restrictions hamper they 'water way of life'
we have become accustomed to.

www.auckett.net/permaculture


SG1 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!

I suppose if the drought doesn't break in about a year's time I won't
be washing in bottled water but still...


Regards
Bruce


Yes, now you can thumb your nose at the bureaucrats who want to stop car
washing & gardening. Selfish *******s don't want anyone to enjoy life just
coz they don't have one.
Jim
In sunny SW Qld.
Will storm today. I washed the rain gauge.

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!

Why do people need to be recompensed to encourage them to do something that
will ceate a greater good (i.e saving of water)?

And not being able to wash a car? Gee....life must be tough if this is
anyone's main problem.

Charles -- yes I am an idealist.
--
If some days are diamonds & some days are stone --
Then some days I live in a quarry!!

with you charles,

whilst ever folk hold out for some cash reward things will never
change. we live in rural qld no mention of reimbursing rural folk, bit
one sided hey? but then if we don't do it then we don't got no water
hey? that simple.

with all these city folks panicking because they can't water the lawn
or wash the rust bucket, how many times do they flush waste water
(urine) down the toilet with perfectly good drinking water??

how many have given up showers so they can share the same bath water?
how many use their grey water for lawns (wastefull folley) and/or
gardens? how many use good looking bath water to wash a few clothes?

might be get real time or at least bite the bullet time?

len

snipped
--
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
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

"len gardener" wrote in message
news
with you charles,

whilst ever folk hold out for some cash reward things will never
change. we live in rural qld no mention of reimbursing rural folk, bit
one sided hey? but then if we don't do it then we don't got no water
hey? that simple.

with all these city folks panicking because they can't water the lawn
or wash the rust bucket, how many times do they flush waste water
(urine) down the toilet with perfectly good drinking water??

how many have given up showers so they can share the same bath water?
how many use their grey water for lawns (wastefull folley) and/or
gardens? how many use good looking bath water to wash a few clothes?

might be get real time or at least bite the bullet time?

len

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


Every time a storm goes over here, I think about how I'd love to have
another 6 or so 5000 gallon poly rainwater tanks...sigh. And no-one looks at
subsidising any of it for me!

Whenever I travel to the smoke, I am buying bottled water like there's no
tomorrow because the tap water tastes like crap. If I lived in suburbia,
and the council was going to give me a rebate, I'd jump at the chance to
have decent drinking water! A 2-stage decent water filter on the outlet, a
bit of regular maintenance in keeping your roof clean, a first-flush bypass
to reduce contaminents, and you have damn fine water!

Just my thoughts, but there are a lot of other things I would forego to have
rainwater on tap...

Cheers,

Rod.......Out Back

The funny thing is, you get a much higher rebate percentage wise for
installing a solar water heater than you do water tanks.
Having lived in the inner city, I know that you can force the price of
water up all you like, but if you don't have the space, you can't store
water.
I think the current rebates for water tanks are pathetic, and there
should not be a blanket price for the rebate, perhaps the rebate could
cover actual costs of plumbing the tank into the house water system.
That is by far the most expensive part, especially if you have to use
pumps and valves. The plumbing I can do, but the electician is expensive
for the pumps.
The actual tank instal couldn't be easier, prepare the ground and
plonk it down.
I am actually looking at tanks at the moment, and it isn't cheap! I'd
love to store a lot of water here, and space for the tanks is O.K for a
surburban block, but the fact that I must have the tanks plumbed into my
house plumbing to get the rebate is making it difficult to justify...I
just want the rain water for the garden and to wash the cars, why
shouldn't I get a rebate for that use? It's still saving water after
all.....

Regards, Andrew.


Kirsty wrote:
We have installed 4 tanks for the garden and a tank for excess water, to
flush the toilet. At present the cost of installing these tanks isn't
'worth' the money, as water in Australia is so cheap.

However, water restrictions will probably increase, rather than decrease
,in the future. Global warming is here to stay, and Australia will get
dryer as a continent as a result.

We water our whole yard on the tank water during summer, and throughout
the rest of the seasons we flush the water down the toilet.

Between 2 people we use less than 200 litres of 'town water' per day.
This is the amount that would be allowed on a level 5 water restriction.

Do you think Sydney is going to have even more severe water shortages
than it has now ? From recent 'studies' it indicates that this will be
the case.

Unfortunately our politicians and the bureaucrats that run our country
only need to worry about a 4 year term. They don't have very many, if
any sustainable long term plans in regards to water planning, including
grey water systems.

So your tanks in 5 years time may seem more 'worth it' than they do now.
Monetarily you may not recoup your loses for some time, but you will
find that continues water restrictions hamper they 'water way of life'
we have become accustomed to.

www.auckett.net/permaculture


SG1 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!

I suppose if the drought doesn't break in about a year's time I won't
be washing in bottled water but still...


Regards
Bruce



Yes, now you can thumb your nose at the bureaucrats who want to stop
car washing & gardening. Selfish *******s don't want anyone to enjoy
life just coz they don't have one.
Jim
In sunny SW Qld.
Will storm today. I washed the rain gauge.

Well, Mr Idealist, perhaps you could give me some of your ideal money
for my tanks then.
Perhaps it's better not to assume you know of one's situation before
you comment.
Some people have to save money to purchase several thousand dollars
worth of tanks, and it's not a trivial amount.
Why shouldn't people receive rebates? I bet you take any rebate you
can get....

Regards, Andrew.

Charles wrote:

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!


Why do people need to be recompensed to encourage them to do something that
will ceate a greater good (i.e saving of water)?

And not being able to wash a car? Gee....life must be tough if this is
anyone's main problem.

Charles -- yes I am an idealist.

With all due respect,

I agree that SOME city people use ridiculous amounts of water, I have
seen it. But by far the biggest wasters of water in large cities are
businesses.
But you have to consider that installing a tank in a surburban area is
not as easy as backing up that 32ft tray truck the tanks come in on,
hoisting it up with the Hiab crane and plonking it down into position. I
know that's how it's done in the country, but what do you do if you have
no access to the place you want the tank to go? Who pays for the crane
hire? It increases the costs of a tank install a LOT, and that's
probably why larger towns get the rebate, to offset costs a bit. You do
know a small crane costs at least $500 an hour?
Most rural properties also have simple gravity fed tank systems, urban
installations are far more complex. Often the tank wil be downhill from
the house, requiring pumps.
So what if someone wants to wash their car with the rainwater they
save? Isn't it far better than using town water?
Did you know that in large cities you have to wash your car? The
pollution pretty quickly destroys them if you don't, and a lot of us
can't afford to swap cars every 3 years......most people I know don't
water their lawns either......
It's not a cash reward, it's a rebate. For some, that money may be the
difference between installing a tank and not. Have you considered that
some people don't have a spare $1500 for even a modest tank???
It's easy to be idealistic if you don't have to live the situation.....

Regards, Andrew.



len gardener wrote:

with you charles,

whilst ever folk hold out for some cash reward things will never
change. we live in rural qld no mention of reimbursing rural folk, bit
one sided hey? but then if we don't do it then we don't got no water
hey? that simple.

with all these city folks panicking because they can't water the lawn
or wash the rust bucket, how many times do they flush waste water
(urine) down the toilet with perfectly good drinking water??

how many have given up showers so they can share the same bath water?
how many use their grey water for lawns (wastefull folley) and/or
gardens? how many use good looking bath water to wash a few clothes?

might be get real time or at least bite the bullet time?

len

snipped

Washing the rain gauge worked 26.2mm in overnight storms. First decent fall
for a while.
Jim

"Andrew Puddifer" wrote in message
...
With all due respect,

I agree that SOME city people use ridiculous amounts of water, I have
seen it. But by far the biggest wasters of water in large cities are
businesses.
But you have to consider that installing a tank in a surburban area is
not as easy as backing up that 32ft tray truck the tanks come in on,
hoisting it up with the Hiab crane and plonking it down into position. I
know that's how it's done in the country, but what do you do if you have
no access to the place you want the tank to go? Who pays for the crane
hire? It increases the costs of a tank install a LOT, and that's
probably why larger towns get the rebate, to offset costs a bit. You do
know a small crane costs at least $500 an hour?
Most rural properties also have simple gravity fed tank systems, urban
installations are far more complex. Often the tank wil be downhill from
the house, requiring pumps.
So what if someone wants to wash their car with the rainwater they
save? Isn't it far better than using town water?
Did you know that in large cities you have to wash your car? The
pollution pretty quickly destroys them if you don't, and a lot of us
can't afford to swap cars every 3 years......most people I know don't
water their lawns either......
It's not a cash reward, it's a rebate. For some, that money may be the
difference between installing a tank and not. Have you considered that
some people don't have a spare $1500 for even a modest tank???
It's easy to be idealistic if you don't have to live the situation.....

Regards, Andrew.



Andrew,

As a matter of fact, it IS just as easy as backing up a truck!

3 or 4 people can roll a 3000 gallon poly tank off a truck, and move it into
position easily(would you like names??). Most of these tanks have the option
to be supplied with first flush diverter and pressure pump. Not hard to do.

The bloke who has delivered our poly tanks(Mostly 3,000 & 5,000 gallon) for
5 years now doesnt own a Hi-ab on his truck and he would have delivered a
few hundred in this district alone in this time. He just rolls them off the
truck.

Most people in places like Brisbane that I have seen buying a tank are
getting something in the 750-1000 gallon size (~3200 - 4000L) of poly tank,
and these are easy to move around with a few people. Hooking them up is
about a half-hour once you have the bits & pieces.

Adding a rainwater tank is not a hard thing. Pressure pumps do away with the
need for tank stands, and poly tanks are more robustly handled than a
corrugated iron tank. I hardly think many people are looking to buy
something large enough to need a hi-ab.

Cheers,

Rod.......Out Back (Who actually does use his Hi-ab to move his stock water
tanks & troughs...)