Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Aug 17, 2010 10:06 pm Hi all, We are building with RedInk in the northern 'burbs (Perth) and have come to the stage of thinking about soakwells. We're keen to do things as environmentally-friendly as possible (and as we can afford ) !! So... wondering if anyone has ideas about installing underground storage tanks with small pumps to use for watering the garden? Our block is a small 395m/sq with at least a couple of metres of sand. If anyone has a little info or is thinking about this themselves, please get in touch Happy building! Re: Soakwell vs storage tank for garden 2Aug 17, 2010 10:41 pm Tank water for gardens in Perth isn't going to work out to well. Use it for utilities like dunnies and washing machines and that will be of great benefit. Perth has very wet winters and very dry summers with enormous evaporation especially in Northern suburbs. Don't underestimate how much water a garden needs here on sandy windy locations like Perth. Your water won't last two seconds in summer on a garden and you may wait, as we saw last year, 5 months for replenishing rains. So all the rain when we don't need it and none when we do Perth sits on one of the largest aquifers there are and that is like an enormous rain water tank. Use that in summer with scheme water but do your bit to keep it topped up by using less water in winter via the tank Talk to bradtez, he does tanks. Grey water use over aquifer areas is controversial that's for sure I know two people who are both very highly regarded in water management and they have conflicting outlooks on grey water use in Perth. Good if done responsibly but risky in our soil type. Re: Soakwell vs storage tank for garden 3Aug 17, 2010 10:43 pm I will add that using stored water in the east is some times OK because they have enough replenishing rain events to do it. Sydney is a good example and the soils take far longer than ours to dry. In many cases here it takes hours to dry, not days or weeks. Re: Soakwell vs storage tank for garden 4Aug 17, 2010 11:31 pm http://www.footprintecostore.com/Rain-Harvesting.html This is Brads stuff. Very good idea to have them connected to the toilets and laundry Maybe even a line to the dishwasher. Re: Soakwell vs storage tank for garden 7Aug 18, 2010 10:25 pm Yeah get it right and you will be way ahead One corner of my shed slab will be directly over a 1400mm diameter concrete soakwell. Is it feasible to fill the soakwell with concrete then lay the shed slab over the… 0 645 18 90471 From what I know about water tanks (I've been working with a client on them for a few years now) is this - The concrete can last a lifetime if they don't crack for some… 2 10625 |