Understanding the conditions of the world’s water supplies is important if you want to be a good world citizen. But the fact is Australians need to look at their own country and realize there is a water shortage right in their backyard. Unfortunately, the continent is abnormally dry on a regular basis and the situation has been made worse by El Nino and global warming.

The only way the water shortage can be adequately addressed is if each person takes personal responsibility for water conservation. Water used for outdoor purposes is a natural first focus, because it is relatively easy to collect rainwater for re-use.

When you decide it is time to make an action plan to reduce your water consumption, the first step is learning how to determine current water usage. Up to 30% of all household water is used outdoors. Outdoor water is used on lawns and gardens, to wash autos, top off swimming and decorative pools, and for cleaning driveways or the house itself. Choosing the right sized underground water tank depends on correctly calculating your water needs.

Typically Speaking

Typically speaking, watering a lawn for an hour takes 1,000 litres. Yes…it takes a 1,000 litres to run a sprinkler for an hour. So if you are watering your lawn several times a week, it is easy to see how large quantities of water can be used regularly.

Even just washing the car can use 200 litres. Hosing down the driveway or washing the gutters out on the house may use 100 litres each. A few hundred litres here and there soon turn into thousands of litres of water.

When you are trying to decide what size tank you need to install for collecting rainwater, the first thing you have to do is calculate your total outdoor water needs. While you are doing this it is also important to consider ways you can reduce your water consumption. But the fact is you need to purchase a tank that is adequate for your current outdoor water consumption purposes or you will not have enough water to keep your yard and gardens healthy.

In addition, when it rains in Australia, it can literally pour. You want to have a large enough tank to collect as much rain as possible, because you never know for sure when it will rain again. By installing the right size underground water storage tank, you know you will be storing all the rainwater possible for future use.

Filling the Tank

The calculation for filling your underground concrete water tanks is simple. You can figure that every 1mm of rain water flowing from on square meter of roof area will create 1 litre of stored water. You can figure the size of your roof and then multiply that by the amount of rain that falls on a typical basis.

Installing an underground water storage is a great way to make your personal contribution to the protection of natural resources while also being able to maintain your property. Anyone can easily calculate their typical outdoor water usage and then choose the right tank size.

Australia is a land of people who have always been able to meet every challenge. There is no doubt we will be able to continue to do so in the future.