Monday 21 December 2015

Rainwater Tanks are Helping Households Save More Water for Future Use

The Australian family household uses an average of 275,000 litres of water each year. Unfortunately, nearly half of it goes down the toilet. To make it worse, people pay for the privilege when they can get their supply for free. Rainwater tanks can store water for many of the tasks the mains water supply is used for: flushing the toilet, watering the garden, doing the laundry, and washing the car. If there's ever a fire close by, it could even be a lifesaver.

Not only is harvesting rainwater a great way to help conserve the planet, it will help conserve bank balances too. Many households are already reaping the benefits by saving 10% on their water bill.

Everyone can be a part of the $500 million busines

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 5.1 million Australians have installed a tank. Collectively, there's the capacity to store 8 billion litres of rainfall in one sitting. If people fully exploit their harvested rainwater, tanks could refill up to 50 times a year, with a storage potential four times as much as the Wivenhoe damn. Conserving water supplies on this scale is making a huge difference.

The energy it takes to clean water fit for use is draining the earth's resources. Australia is already using 156 billion litres of rainfall a year, with a value of more than $500 million if it was to be billed at the standard utility rate. These are impressive statistics, but if businesses, who use a lot more water than the average family household decides to harvest rainwater, go green and get on board, the storage possibilities could likely double.

There's a great choice of water tanks to blend in with all surroundings, and installation is a straightforward process. If there's a roof to collect rainwater, then there's water to harvest.


Source:
Rainwater Harvesting goes mainstream – ABS Water Account 2013/14, The Ripple Effect


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