New Rainwater Tanks and Rainwater Storage Solutions

The burgeoning interest and need for rainwater storage in Australia has resulted in the development of many new and innovative products to meet consumer demand for more attractive and less obtrusive water tanks. As Australia’s population continues to grow, houses are becoming larger, and land size is reducing. The end result is a larger catchment area for rainwater harvesting (being the roofs of houses), but at the same time limited land space to be able to store the rainwater. The minimum recommended amount of rainwater required for home use is 5,000 liters, but 10,000 liters is preferable due to the continuing changes we are seeing in our rainfall patterns.

Rainwater Tanks: Where Can we Put Them?

The key questions for homeowners are "how much rainwater storage do I need?" and "where am I going to fit a rainwater tank?" The golden rule to remember for rainwater tanks and storage is that "one thousand liters of rainwater measures one cubic meter and weighs one ton". So, 10,000 liters measures 10 cubic meters and weights 10 tons!

Rainwater Tanks: New Solutions

The rainwater harvesting industry has responded to limited space and increase water storage requirements by developing new products such as slimline water tanks, under deck tanks, underground water tanks and rainwater bladder tanks made of materials from polyethylene to metal to watertight fabrics like polypropylene. The objective in selecting the right rainwater tank is to minimize the “footprint” of a tank on valuable property, or to utilize previously wasted space. Rainwater tanks come in all shapes and sizes in an attempt to ensure that all possible configurations can be achieved.

One of the main difficulties with large rigid tanks (such as plastic, metal and concrete) is that transport and logistics become a major issue and cost (both delivery to the home and access to the homeowner’s preferred location for the tank). The industry has responded by either decentralizing manufacturing (smaller factories in more locations) or by developing products that can be easily, and cost effectively shipped Australia wide (such as rainwater bladder tanks).

Rainwater Quality and Filtration

With rainwater being reticulated back into the home, water quality has become more important. Given the nature of our roofs and the environment we live in (large cities with local fauna and large amounts of traffic) it is necessary to filter that water on the way into the rainwater tank or bladder and in some cases on the way into the house from the rainwater tank. Rainwater Drop on GrassAgain, the rainwater harvesting industry has developed a range of products to meet these needs.

Mains water Changeover Devices

And if the stored rainwater is exhausted and is no longer available to use inside the home, a new range of products in the form of automatic mains water changeover controllers has been developed to enable the mains water to be “turned on” automatically when required.

Today rainwater harvesting has become an integral part of our lives and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. While major infrastructure options such as dams and desalination will be a part of future water supply, with decentralized rainwater storage in our homes we can all contribute to making the community water last longer while learning more about our environment and making a difference and saving on water bills.