Water Tank rebate madness

T500 Slim – 2,281 L Slim Line Domestic Tank.

This is the largest and now most popular of the slim-line tanks available today. With a realistic capacity of 2,281 L this tank has an overall height of 2.02m, a width of 2.31m and is only 0.62m from front to rear so it will fit beside the house and usually under the eaves. Our T500 comes complete with an inlet leaf strainer and overflow ready for use. We can supply a multiple tank system with 2, 3, or 4 x T500 slimline tanks, connecting fittings and a pressure pump or any combination. The T500 Slim tank can easily be installed with a drip irrigation system for fully automatic irrigation of gardens or patio pots. Delivery included in this price!
Price:
$1,353.00
inc GST within Australia
at 50% cost = 676.50 per household
100 Households will have 228,100 litres
1000 Households will have 2,281,000 litres
10000 Households will have 22,810,000 litres @ $13,530,000 (govt liability of $6,765,000)
The daily consumption rate from http://www.actewagl.com.au/default.aspx?loc=/water/dailyConsumption.htm is about 100,000,000 (megalitres) a day. Of which 39% (http://www.thinkwater.act.gov.au/calculators/water_calculators.shtml) apparently is going onto gardens, that’s 39,000,000 litres of potable water a DAY.
Although I dispute these figures, they come from the ACTEWAGL and Government websites, I prefer the latest CSIRO documentation and line of thinking that states that the main culprits are light industry and primary production.
I think you’ll find that to replace the daily ‘potable’ water intake for a single day rather a cheap investment and quite a good bang for your buck.
What the ACT government don’t want you to know however is that the water situation won’t change when you eliminate their throwaway comment that 39% of potable water is being wasted by householders, and that they infact are covering up one of the biggest, nastiest and grossly mismanaged projects they have ever been involved in.
They also like to slug us with nice little regular water bills to keep the bank balance rolling.
That’s their problem.

Can we get this thread back to water?

La Dunne appears to be just doing her usual populist ‘give us a dam’ rant- the kind of thing you would expect from someone with the breathtaking vision of an Alan Jones or John Laws. Her argument seems to be full of daft hypotheticals like the quote in the original post, trying to make an underlying appeal to those who believe that having a large green lawn is a sacred right and government is obliged to provide them with as much water as they want at a cost that bears no relation to the cost of supply. It’s unfortunate- she once seemed to be one of the brighter Libs.

Thumper’s comments are interesting, but ignore the ultimate criterion in this game- the delivered cost of the water. Government (any government) is expected to use its available funds in the most effective and efficient way. why should government. The delivered cost of water from tanks is likely to be high, much higher than from reticulated supply (although I’m willing to be persuaded otherwise by hard evidence). Similiarly, Ms Dunne’s beloved Tennant Dam is apparently located in a rain shadow, so it’s unlikely to ever operate at planned capacity, ie its delivered cost will be higher than expected. Taxpayers expect government to get best bang for the buck, so grant schemes that in fact make negligible contribution to outcomes can’t be justified on economics- but perhaps on demonstration or catalytic grounds.

Apart from bolt-on items like low-flow showerheads, retrofitting more efficient technology into the existing housing stock is usually expensive, with unrealistically long payback times. Installing things like gray water systems and alternative supplies are usually only practical for new construction.

There are no easy answers on this issue, but Ms Dunne’s comments are less than constructive. Maybe she needs an environmental advisor. And an engineering advisor. And an economic advisor.

Thank god for Google !

rainwater tanks in Canberra are now appearing in the dynamic advertisments 🙂

I only know one Jo, and last I heard she was posted to Darwin 🙁

Mael: lolololol

I was only a Sig in the Aus army, I was Infantry in NZ, however we learned RATEL in that role.

Actually it’s just exposing loophole terminology like ‘Military Intelligence’.

or ‘Say again over’
‘again over’

ooh! I might know him then!

Out

Out

Over

Figure that one out out 😛

Over.

you end every sentance with “over” EXCEPT when you are ending the conversation, when you use “out”. We learnt that on day 1. Anyone who used “over and out” had to do 50 pushups.

Perhaps the conscripts can be put to good use installing water tanks..

Actually the saying comes from a problem with military etiquitte and doctrine.

On one hand, you must end every sentence with ‘Over’

On the other, you must indicate that you have finished your conversation with ‘Out’

Hence the creation of the term ‘Over and Out’. No real reason to use it personally other than to add a little flavour to the end of my sentence 🙂

QRU AR then.

LG gets very cranky about over and out. It is a contradiction. Either you are “over” (waiting for the other person to talk) or “out” (ending the conversation.

No one uses this except on the tv or the ignorant.
Bring back conscription!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having read the media release, I must say poor Ms Dunne is BADLY informed!

What the hell are these people thinking? – A water storage capacity at every house in Canberra would cause less drain on the dams, and water would be more appropriately utilised around the common household.

Given the current construction rate of housing in Canberra I don’t think that the capacity would be too far off what a dam could hold either. I have also been out to the dam in Queanbeyan just before the rains started and it could best be described in brewing terms as ‘the dregs’. (generally the stuff you wouldn’t drink).

So just how did we make this leap of intelligence to be comparing ‘empty’ dams with storm water catchment and use ?

I’d actually sleep more soundly knowing that the water which came off my roof was put to better use than running into a stormwater runoff and eventually out to sea, which is a criminal negligence waste of our most precious resource.

I have actually been looking recently at installing a rainwater tank at my house, it would appear that there is absolutely no reference to how to get one, where to get one from, or even being able to purchase one via rates or ACTEW billing. If there is, I would appreciate a link ;P

There is plenty of garbage about the benefits of getting one, and how to set one up – here’s a novel thought; If I’m thinking of installing a rainwater tank I’ve probably already thought of how it will be used, what I’m looking for is how and where to get one!

Over and Out.