Household Tanks Conserve Water
Illawarra Mercury
Saturday October 13, 2001
The old adage children should be seen and not heard is wrong, according to Camille DeRooy.
The 14-year-old student recently completed a school assignment proving plastic water tanks on residential properties can save the government and residents money.
And she wants to be heard.
Camille said the results spoke for themselves.
``My assignment shows that if people had water tanks on the side of their house, the government would save our precious water for needy times and people would save on water bills in the long run," she said.
Water tanks are placed on the side of the house and collect rainwater from the roof.
The water is then either pumped into a household washing sink or through a hose to the garden.
Coastline Plastics owner and Camille's father Robert DeRooy said water tanks should be made compulsory for new houses.
``Because water is relatively cheap in Australia, not many people think about the savings which could be made with a tank," he said.
``The government should make it compulsory for new houses to install a tank on the side of the house."
Assignment findings
* There are approximately 68,000 residences in Wollongong.
* The cost of 8000 plastic water tanks on 68,000 homes = about $75 million.
* The average water used in home is 800 litres per day = 292,000 per year.
* 292,000 x 68,000 residents = 19,856,000,000.
* Divide the usage per year per house by an 8000 litre tank = equals 2,482,000.
* Annual rainfall = 2mm daily or 730mm per year = 30 inches of rain.
* Average roof area of house 300 square metres = 7500mm per every 1 inch of rain.
* 7500 x 30 = 225,000 litre.
* 225,000 is 64 per cent of residential annual water usage (292,000)
© 2001 Illawarra Mercury