Water Crisis!!

[Tikki]

I'm in trouble with the master! We have a 1,000 gallon rainwater tank to water the veg garden and a smaller one for drinking water. Last night I put the hose on the only inhabitants of the vegie garden, 4 gladi plants. This morning I decided to water the apricot tree with rainwater instead of mains water, but no water came from the hose. 1,000 gallons of rainwater has watered more than 4 gladis!! The last time I sinned, the next door neighbour discovered his unsealed pit in his shed half full of water when he went to service a mate's car. Last night's effort is probably there too!! :o I've heard all day about the driest state in the driest continent in the world, how long it takes to catch 1,000 gallons of water from my workshop roof etc. I'm now praying for rain, but think I'm likely to hear plenty from him and nothing on the roof! Surely I'm not the only one who has done something like this?

[fxst]

bad girl you ........Ill tell the minister for everything enviro on u.....and get a levy on water tanks...........oops he tried that already didnt he ? LOL

[journeyman Mick]

Tikki,
depends on your catchment area, ie: M2 of roof draining into tank. Every mm of rain per M2 of roof = 1 litre. 1000 gallons = 4500 litres (approx). If your shed is 6 x 3M (one bay carport) it would take half a metre of rain to fill your tank :eek: Hope you've got a big shed! How much would it cost to get a water truck in to fill it? Around here (5 mins drive from the river) it costs about $150 for 15000 litres. If it makes you feel any better I've twice drained the small tank (1000L) on my shed watering my pawpaw tree :o . Luckily I can refill it with the fire truck :) . After this, I've decided to get an alarm clock and set it up to ring after 10 or 15 minutes so I will turn the tap off. I tried one of those clockwork tap timers but they don't work on gravity feed.
Good Luck! (maybe buy him a bottle of his favourite beverage so he doesn't notice the water shortage quite so much)

Mick

[Toggy]

Unless he drinks whiskey & water, Mick.:D

Ken

[Tikki]

Yeah Pete... if your enviro minister is anything like the drop kick from SA Wate....a minute, I can't say that, he'd need a picture of a tank and still couldn't figure where the water got in!!! :confused: (This jerk from that company wanted access to our backyard to read our water meter - I pointed it out not 5 metres behind him in our front garden, told him he was looking for next door's meter which is in their backyard, and he promptly read our meter and drove off!! Someone's going to land a stiff bill or a heck of a Xmas bonus!)

Mick, my workshop is only a 15'x10' and half the roof is covered by a tree. We're heading for a hot summer, so I probably have no hope or buckleys! We have a great choice of water here, the Murray or the Murray .... think I'll rely on praying. Have a timer at the back door for that purpose, but like I forgot to turn the tap off ... forgot to turn the timer on - oh, these senior's moments are becoming more frequent! Pleased to hear I'm not the only one too - a pawpaw tree would be worthwhile, but 4 gladis???, they'd better be pretty!

Like all blokes, food does the trick :D :D :D ... pavlova usually works.

[bitingmidge]

(maybe buy him a bottle of his favourite beverage so he doesn't notice the water shortage quite so much)

Or why not just fill the tank from the hose?

:D :D :D
P

[jackiew]

when I lived in the UK we regularly had hosepipe bans ... i.e. if you wanted to water your garden your only option was the watering can. As a result I feel positively decadent if I use a hose on the garden even though its quite legal here.

I'm still bemused in Melbourne to see sprinklers going in the rain at the same time that we are being exhorted to save water.

[DaveInOz]

I'm still bemused in Melbourne to see sprinklers going in the rain at the same time that we are being exhorted to save water.

Gees, only a pom could say that :rolleyes:
It is very simple Jackie, one of the biggest water losses is due to wind and sun evaporation of sprinkler water before it hits the ground and while it is lying on top. Obviously the best way to minimise this is to water in the rain. :D
NB another good Melbourne tip is to water your concrete, it lowers the ambiant temp and stops excessive evaporation. :D :D

Ps for the poms out there evaporation is the opposite of condensation, it happens when the temp goes above 0 and the moisture goes into the sky not out of it. :p :p :D :D :D

[Iain]

Free Water...all the rain last weekend we now have a 3 acre lake, please, help yourself, BYO bucket.

[Tikki]

And didn't I just deserve that, Father Christmas!! http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/8/8_2_57.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZNxdm88547US)

[Iain]

We seem to get it both ways, last year we had no rain and we had to buy in feed for the horses, this year we are getting too much.
I put in my workshop, 6x12m and had delays as the ground was too wet, have not got a tank yet but will get one soon.
We also have an undercover manege 20x40m and I really have to get a tank on that soon as it really is a waste all the rain going into Westernport Bay.
So much to do, so little time, so little money :o
Even with the tanks the local council have their hand out for a permit fee, inspection fee, honestly, how can you stuff up a tank, if it leaks it's my problem.

[Pat]

Even with the tanks the local council have their hand out for a permit fee, inspection fee, honestly, how can you stuff up a tank, if it leaks it's my problem.

Typical blessed councils, they all advise you to get water tanks for the enviroment, but slug you for following their "advice". Their hand is out any time you modify/improve your property. Dirty rotten no good for nothings!
"What they don't know, doesn't hurt them" seems to becoming a mantra across this country in response to the over regulation of a person's life . . . rant off :(

[fxst]

dont feel too bad Tikki U made me do it .........after havin a dig I goes out to the block to find I had forgotten to turn off the tap............5000 litrs to water a 6x4foot plot of lucerne :mad: Ian I might bring a bucket :D
btw Tikki we share the minister for idioticy Hill as Im a little north of u lot :o
Pete

[jackiew]

you can send of for some cash-back if you implement certain water saving measures.

If its a water tank it has to be installed by an approved installer ( which of course costs money ) to get your rebate. So effectively ones rebate pays for the installation ( if you're lucky ). If you DIY you can't claim anything. Nice little earner for the plumbers .... absolutely no benefit whatsoever to the customer.

[simon c]

.... absolutely no benefit whatsoever to the customer.

Jackie, I understand your point that the rebate only covers the installation so it would make no difference if you did it yourself but the advantage to the customer is that it is illegal to do it yourself as as you are interfering with the storm drain on your property, which requires a licensed plumber to do it anyway.

[Iain]

What storm drain?
It just runs across the paddock and into a trench carved out along the boundary, called a swale I think, and it's my job to dig out the weeds and allow drainage.
You don't (or didn't) need a plumber unless you were connecting to mains water and a lot of mud brick builders did their own legal plumbing providing it was from a water tank.
This is my pet peeve with council telling me what I can and cannot do, bit like state gov with their business advisory service, a public servant telling me how to be a success,Ha.

[jackiew]

Where I live pretty much everyones garage gutters discharge straight out into the back laneway - which has a large metal grille set into the surface at the bottom of the slope to take the run-off. Just what you want on your motorbike in the dark - cobblestones, metal grille on the bend and a river heading down the slope towards you :(

I don't think its rocket science to stick one end of the drain pipe over the top of a water tank and connect the tank overflow to the bit of pipe that sticks out of the fence but obviously the powers that be disagree.

Even if I was connecting to an existing drain I don't really see how inserting a water-tank between an existing drain-pipe and an existing drain is going to cause any problems to anyone and I'd be interested to hear a justification for the legislation other than to generate jobs for the boys.

[simon c]

Even if I was connecting to an existing drain I don't really see how inserting a water-tank between an existing drain-pipe and an existing drain is going to cause any problems to anyone and I'd be interested to hear a justification for the legislation other than to generate jobs for the boys.

That's the rules of the country we live in. If you want to do anything to your house relating to plumbing, electricity, building etc it has to be approved or untaken by a licensed contractor. Most of us believe we know when we are out of our skill range and feel confident doing work even though we should use a professional but there are plenty of situations where that isn't the case. What would happen if you ended up flooding a neighbour's house because you diverted too much water into the overflow or connecting to the sewerage instead of storm water.

But getting back to your originial point, I was also quite disappointed too when I worked out that my rebate would just cover the cost of plumbing. Maybe they shouldn't call it a rebate in this circumstance - if they had said "buy a water tank and we'll pay $150 towards the cost of getting a licensed plumber to install it for you" then I think that would have been fair enough.

[jackiew]

What would happen if you ended up flooding a neighbour's house because you diverted too much water into the overflow or connecting to the sewerage instead of storm water.

agreed ... but if you cut an existing pipe and directed it into a tank and you direct the overflow into the other bit of the pipe and all the pipe dimensions are the same I fail to see how you can stuff up. If too much water goes into the overflow in a heavy rain shower then too much water would have gone into the overflow regardless of whether you had a tank in the system or not.

If I really want to flood my neighbours house I'll just put plenty of hard paving on my side of the fence and gently slope it into their garden. :)

As I've said in other discussions I do find it interesting the different approach to regulation of citizen's activities .... there's the "they're all thick" approach where information on how to do things the right way is closely held in the hands of the few and the ... well they're going to have a go and do it anyway so we'll make the information on how to do it the right way readily available to anyone who wants it approach.

I do begrudge paying for stuff which I feel is within my capability - especially when its a total lottery over whether they are actually going to be competent to do the work in the first place. Can't remember where I read it (don't think it was this forum) but I recently saw a suggestion that a kind of e-bay type reputation register be kept for tradespeople ( and for their customers ). That way we'd all be happier when employing people to do jobs for us ( and tradesmen would be able to avoid the customers who find it hard to put their hands in their wallets ).

I have actually had a quote(from a specialist company) on installing a tank under the house ( which would connect to the storm water drain) and additionally installing connections, pump etc for water from the tank to flush the toilet.

The quote for the tank installation was quite reasonable for the work involved. The quote for the connection to the toilet was a p**s off price ( about 4 times the going rate - maybe because information on tank prices is much more widely available than on the price of added extras). If the installer had come clean and said .... "look I can't be bothered with the toilet connection but I'm happy to do the tank installation" then I'd have a tank under the house now.... but I wasn't prepared to employ someone who was taking me for a mug.