We have a huge 20,000gal water tank. Our water tank has kept us in water which we use very sparingly and carefully for one full year without bringing in a tank of town water. It is full presently as it's still raining. I have also been thinking about a bore as I am the only property around without either a bore or dam. Now the council has been forbidding sinking of new bores for the reason of drying the undergraound water table dry. I would also love to get info about the effect of bores on underground water tables. At the moment I'm thinking about putting in a small pond/dam for the animals who get their water presently in an old bath tub. I'm also considering getting another water tank for the excess flow off as we have a large roof catchment area for rain. I don't know which way to go with all this as my garden really needs water and hasn't been getting what it needs. I usually put my washing up water onto the garden or more specifically on my potted plants. Only the most hardy survive. We also catch our first shower water till it gets hot, for the garden too. If anyone has ideas or information on the subject of water collection etc I would love to hear about it.
Yeah, what she said!!!!! :lol: Confused? Check out my post in "YooHoo Elizabeth" Edited to add: Dawn, how many acres do you have? We only have 2 and a half, (of capeweed ) so it's all a bit hard to justify for a couple of goats.....
g'day dawn, for me i'd suggest leave the aquafa alone, my experience is that the more people who put bores down the less the aquafa gives. i reckon more tangable water collection are the ones you can see tanks, water holes/dams. put in more tanks, put in a dam you don't need a big one. with the dam it will depend on how large your property is, if you can't fit a dam then make it more tanks. len
Mega-techo post warning... Find out what kind of aquifer is present where you live. If you have a discontinuous 'fractured rock' or 'palaeochannel' kind, the activities of your neighbours may or may not affect the water table under you, and vice versa - those kinds of groundwater systems are a total lottery because the connectivity and permeability can't really be modelled accurately. But if you have a shallow aquifer (surficial or superficial water, eg a sedimentary deposit from an old river or lake), any extraction of water is likely to affect nearby groundwater-dependant ecosystems (wet areas where the groundwater expresses at the surface), AND the quality of the water will be affected by surface activities such as intensive agriculture and industry. If you have a deeper unconfined aquifer, it is the cumulative actions of everyone who is extracting water which determine the 'sustainable' yield, and it depends on how well the science was done as to how accurately we can forecast the sustainable yield. Having been involved in the "business" of groundwater allocation from a govt dept perspective, I can tell you that if the council have verboten new bores it means that either the council is extremely forward-thinking and is applying the precautionary principle (fingers crossed), or (more likely) that the aquifer is too far gone, therefore any money spent on bores is a waste - in your location. That's not to say that a bore in a different aquifer would not produce huge volumes of high quality water for an indefinite period of time (like mine will - I hope), but once an aquifer is depleted it usually takes a geological time-frame to replenish. Depending on the surface and subsurface hydrology of your block, a dam can have a large down-stream impact: those dams that collect and hold the most water are usually doing so at the expense of somewhere downstream (purist alert ). Somewhere, there will be a hydrogeologist employed by a govt dept whose job it is to answer your questions - in WA they are at the Dept of Environment. You might need to make lots of phone calls to track them down but they will be somewhere, don't take no for an answer. Once you get hold of them, they will know exactly what kind of aquifer you have, the yield, the water quality etc. Get some benefit from your taxes! If you have good roof catchment, put in as many water tanks as you can afford, and take advantage of the thermal stability provided by water to grow climbing crops on the outside of the tank! Mmmmm passionfruit yum :wink:
thankyou for your suggestions. dani,you have given just the information I was after. I am considering putting in another tank just have to find a company that has them at a reasonable price. I would love to grow a vine around the tank at least on the side that's not dug into the ground. Most probably I'll put a small dam in as the land slopes down. Getting info from a council hydrogeologist about the type of water table etc is just what I needed to know. As ther's basically dry grazing pastures here with nothing growing except a couple of black wattles I don't think that swales would work. ********************************** PS Tullymoore, I have 16.5 acres. About half is a very steep hill that you can't really do anything with. The roos love it. :?
Dawn, I am assuming that these are above-ground tanks that you're using, since you speak of covering them with plants. Are you familiar with a small book called Ferrocement Water Tanks and their Construction by S. B. Watt? It is a real little gem, full of instructions on how to build your own tanks, from about 60 gallons up to thousands. Simple, clear instructions, minimal equipment. Sue
Sue, the tank I have is a concrete one. There is no way known I could make this on my own. We have water tank makers here. I followed this one being made. It is basically about 2.5m high round concrete wall. Then in concrete there is a lid placed on top, which has a 'man hole' with cover. There is a real skill involved in making these. I checked the Ferrocement Water Tanks on the net and have seen a couple around these parts but the ones here are totally sealed on top so I'm not sure if they are the same or not. :?
