Our property is in a semi-rural area and we do not have access to town water. This is not a problem as we have 2 large rainwater tanks. The combined capacity is almost 100,000 litres and since we live in a high rainfall area we have never even gone close to running out of water. However, we have also lived in a low rainfall area as well as in the city when there was a significant drought so we know what it is like to be careful with every precious drop of water.
Well, you can never have too much rainwater storage so today we bought another tank. I discovered that a work colleague wanted to sell a rainwater tank due to new landscaping plans. I checked out the details and found that it would be perfect for our plan to have another small tank under the verandah. We will use this for watering out vegetable garden which is close by. This will be much easier than dragging the hose all the way from the main tap which is at the other end of the house. Additionally, a tank which is close to the house will give us the option of being able to access water relatively easily if we are without power.
It is unlikely that we will be completely without power now that we have the battery system for our solar panels but is will be good to have a back up just in case.
Without power for the pump or a tank close to the house, it is a long trek to the main tanks to get water. You can read about it in an old post from 2013.
Back to the new tank. We collected it today and it was loaded into the ute with the help of the seller and a couple of his mates. After a reasonably cautious drive home it was time to unload.
This is the area we had chosen to position the tank. In fact, the concreting was only done about 6 months ago with a view to getting the tank this year.
With a bit of careful planning GMan and I were able to manoeuvre it into position.
The next step will be to organise the plumber and electrician to get it all set up. In the interests of efficiency we need to plan several plumbing and electrical jobs all to be done at the same time.