The virtual water tank -how to have 3000 litres of water for the garden

DH and I have been attending a local course sponsored by the Water Corporation, on living sustainably in this drying climate. Our local flora and fauna need us to conserve the water in the underground basins -where half of our water for the city is now being drawn from, as Perth dams now get less than 10% of the runoff that they were getting 50 or so years ago, due to climate change. We need to save as much water as we can.

We have a 3000 litre water tank in our garden -but would like more, because it is collects free water! Our roof gutters are still sending a lot of water down the drains, when I would like to use it in the house and garden. One of the problems in putting new water tanks in, is that we don't have a huge amount of room to do so, as the house is quite close to the fence on three sides.

The good news is that, as a result of the course we are doing, we have found at least 12,000 litres of water that used to go down the drain, and all we have done is change a couple of habits.

1. Collecting the cold water from the sink while waiting for the hot water to flow through.

We have a 3 litre old milk bottle under the sink.  Every time we want hot water, we put the bottle under the tap. We have discovered that it usually takes 3 litres of water before the hot arrives-water which used to go down the drain. The cold water is then easily walked out to the vegetable garden a couple of times a day, and gives extra water where it is needed. In the course of a day we would do this 3 times, so that is 9 litres x 365 days per year or 3,285 litres of water per year - the equivalent of one full water tank per year!

2. A bucket in the shower in the en suite to collect the cold water before the hot water arrives

Similarly, we are now collected the cold water in the shower. It is further away from the water service, so we have found it collects around 9 litres per shower. We have a toilet right next to the shower, so we are using the water to flush the toilet. Not only does this use the cold water we collect -we save the water which was used in flushing . Our low-flush toilets use 6 litres maximum each flush. If we use the shower water in this way, we have saved the 3285 litres of water per year x 2 for DH and I when we shower - a total of 6570 litres,  plus the saving of 4 flushes per day at 6 litres = 8760 litres per year, which is close to three 3000 litre water tanks! This saving will help us when we are using scheme water on our garden -we can still have a thriving garden without using too much water!

I still want to do more water storage on our property -but finding this water with just a couple of changes to our behaviour is pretty good.

IN other good news, I have moved on from my quilting disaster of last week and am having great fun making a new quilt. I found the inspiration pattern in a book I picked up cheaply at a WAQA sale -it is called The Thimbleberries Guide for Weekend Quilters, and the pattern I am using is called "Welcome Home". I have always wanted to do a 'house quilt" and this is a great introduction to it. The original design is in the traditional muted Thimbleberries fabrics. I think they give it quite a traditional look.

This is the picture in the book

I am adapting it a bit as I go. My daughter commented that as a quilter, I rarely follow the pattern!  Two of the houses now have doors, and I am making scrappy stars. I am also thinking of making a 6 patch border and perhaps even sashing and cornerstones for the main blocks-all scrappy. I have chosen slightly brighter fabrics from my stash, and mixed up the colours of the houses.

Here is my version so far, still on the design board.

Here is the house with a door

I am pleased too that this quilt lets me use two of the Accuuilt Go! dies that I have -the one which came with it when purchased has a 4.5 inch square and a 2.5 inch square and 2.5 when complete half inch triangles -I am using this one for the stars. The 2.5 inch strip cutter is used for many pieces of the house.

So it has been quite a productive week! Which is a bit surprising, given that we had quite a few interruptions from our usual routine going to events for anti-Poverty Week and also for the launch of the Perth branch of Equal Voices. We also made dinner for friends on Friday night.

I have an optometrist appointment today -hoping for better general multifocals as a result!

Have a good week !