On Friday, we had over 18mm of rain in about 24 hours! Our tanks, which were already pretty full from the weeks of rain in early summer, were simply overflowing. This one, which fills from our house roof (about 115sqm), apparently doesn't have a big enough overflow outlet! It was simply gushing out the inlet, and I ended up going down and pulling the cap off the pipe so that it would flow out into the street drain rather than overflowing here near the house. At least the pipes will have had a good flushing out!We ran entirely off our stainless steel tank last summer and most of winter (you can see it in the background), and managed to use no town water, though the levels did get mighty low once or twice. So far though, with the two tanks, we have had so much water we don't know what to do with it!
Still, conserving water is so ingrained in us now, that even when we have plenty, we use very little. Our washing machine and dishwasher use only minimal water (washing machine about 50l a load, dishwasher about 11), we have water saving shower heads, and are careful every time we turn a tap on. It all pays off though, and hopefully we will have plenty of water to see us through the winter (which typically has less rain here), without any worries.
2 comments:
I love seeing overflowing rainwater tanks! We live on an acre half an hour south west of Rockhampton and rely totally on rainwater, plus some water that my DH carts from the nearby creek to top up the tank that feeds the garden and washing machine when it runs out. When our tanks are overflowing I run a deeeeep bath for the kids to play in (they usually have very shallow baths) and I have a long shower as well as making the washing machine work overtime washing blankets and quilts and all the big things that don't get washed very often. Our tanks are all completely full as we have had some decent rain lately, but I'm like you, still so careful with water. Such fun! Regards Kendall
Hi Kendall. It's lovely to have full tanks, but yes, I understand the concern about running out of water in the future. Luckily we have mains water as a backup. although I hope never to need it, it is nice to know it's there if we do.
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