Rainwater Collection

Installing Rainwater Tank at The Painted Fish

Rain water collection
 
Here at The Painted Fish we have two rainwater tanks with a total storage capacity of about 14,000 litres. Given the average Fremantle household uses approximately 280,000 litres per year this may not seem like much, but over winter we can use the water from the tanks over and over as they refill each rainy day. We estimated that last year we collected about 50,000 litres. We recently installed a water meter so we can keep a tab on exactly what we do use.
 
We chose galvanised steel tanks with aqua plate lining rather than poly tanks to match the cladding on the house. It seems that the cost, water quality and life expectancy of both types of tanks are similar. Apparently poly tanks use less energy to produce but steel tanks are more recyclable at the end of their useful lives.
 
The collection system includes first flush diverters, under gutter outlets, smooth line gutters on an unusually steep angle, and a device called a “Water Boy” which draws water from the mid section of the tank water away from any anaerobic activity. We don’t collect water from the studio or carriage roof as the leaves from the Japanese Pepper make doing so impractical.
 
We use the rainwater for flushing toilets, in the laundry and watering gardens. We have been trying to find a way to extend the use to showers, kitchen etc. At this point, because members of the public are ‘exposed’ to our water, to do this would require about $1,000 worth of chemical testing every year and probably the introduction of chlorine into the water.