New water tank

This monster is our first water tank. It holds 3000 litres of water. The white plastic pipe is a clever diverter which allows the first flush of water from the roof to be diverted away from the tank, so that cleaner water goes in.

Yesterday we had a welcome amount of rain, and I witnessed for the first time the lovely sound of water going into the empty tank.

Why install a water tank?

I have written before about the 40% reduction in rainfall that Perth has experienced over the last 40 or so years. Our state government has installed two desalination plants to make us 'climate free' from our reliance on rain water for drinking.

We are a drying city in a dry continent.

I want to grow our own fruit and vegetables, and the water tank is a small part of that. As Perth has a Mediterranean style climate with a dry hot summer and a short wet winter, we could not rely on just 3000 litres of water to get us through the summer. It is however a small contribution to the overall sustainability of our home and garden. Maybe we will eventually install more water tanks.

The tank has another role -this western wall gets extremely hot in summer and so does the room behind it, which is where we have our television. The tank will, at the very least, shade the wall.
It will, when full of water (usually in winter) also provide a thermal mass which should also provide some passive heating to the wall and perhaps to the room.

Anyway, it is nice to hear the sound of the rain hitting the bottom of the tank. Maybe we will have one or two more showers this week, and they too will go into the tank instead of running away. I think I am one of only a few people in Perth who wants it to rain at this time of the year! Nearly everyone else is glad of spring sunshine.