Then there must have been something wrong with the desalinated water I used to drink in Malaysia.
I canât comment on your experience other than to say I stay in Malaysia several times a year (until the pandemic) and have never noticed a salty taste at all.
Ah! Assman. I was surprised to see you write this as it certainly was not the case when I lived there but on checking it is true that houses built since 1970 do have separate systems though of course that doesnât apply to houses built before that date.
Dear Assman, I am deeply touched by your concern for my horticulture. Alas I water nothing in my Darwinian garden, if it survives it stays and why would anyone in their right mind water grass? it only encourages it, nothing gladdens my heart more than a beautifully brown lawn because I know it will not need mowing until it rains again.
As for your other suggestions, commendable as they are there is little incentive for me to install them. We are not in drought and my quarterly water bill is only $60 or ÂŁ120 a year:
I have to say that their 25c charge for using my credit card bugs me greatly.
BTW the tanks are a left over from the Millennium drought when the federal government paid most of the cost of installing up to 5000litre tanks. I did use the water from my washing machine to water plants and I collected shower water but we are nowhere near that situation now with full or near full dams and several years of water storage.
I am surprised to hear your dams are large enough to give you
several years of water storage Brucy??
I should check that info out if l were you?
However as you say, you still have the government sponsered tank
standing there doing nothing so you should cope with a small
drought if needed, if it hasnt silted up with roof dust by then??
Anyway, as you say everything is honkeydorey as the dams have
just replenished so you dont have to worry anymore??
As long as the rains come??
Good luck!
Donkeyman!
Common Sense, but that seems to be a rarity these days, I do remember an Uncle who worked on desalination in Ayrshire in the 1970âs.
Also, as surrounded by water which is tidal, why not harness that power which could be done with all of the workings being underwater and unseen, unlike those monstrous Wind Farms which are a blight on the countryside and coasts and of course can only be used under certain conditions.
Itâs, once again a British thing, a bit of sun and we have an hosepipe ban, a bit of snow and the whole country grinds to a halt, when it rains the country ends up under 2 foot of water, a tree drops a leaf onto a rail line and the whole transport system shudders to a standstill
When the daffodils come out so do the unions in sympathy and solidarity âŚitâs a British thing.
Your right Vlad!
We are a very slapdash nation!
I think we always have been!
And too many chiefs and not enough lndians !( Oops ! Perhaps l
shouldnt have said that?)
Donkeyman!
Cultural appropriation mateâŚbut you are right about being slapdash, we just bimble along making it up as we go :!:
Oh Assman! Am I sure? letâs see⌠The Millennium drought lasted 10 years and Sydney didnât run out of water (despite the government panicking and building a desal plant). However I know that maths is not your strong point but lets do some sums.
The Sydney dams hold a total of 2,581,850 ML but currently hold 2,535,689 ML so we will use that figure. Last week the usage was 9157ML with no water restrictions in place.
2535689/9157 = 277 weeks
277/52 = 5 years assuming it never rains and water restrictions are not put in place during that time.
So Yes, Assman, it will last several years.
But wait! there is more. Sydney water can pump from the Shoalhaven scheme to top up Sydneyâs water supply. Just recently the Shoalhavenâs Tallawa Dam spilled 20 years of supply for the Shoalhaven over its spillway during the recent rain.
Here is a nice map of the Sydney catchment area showing the location of the dams.
I do hope that helps you Assman, you may be no wiser but at least you are better informed.
I nearly forgot to answer this Assman.
No the tanks are not silted up with dust because the first several litres of water off the roof goes straight down the drain carrying all the dust with it before the water flows into the tank.
It is amazing how quickly they fill until you remember that 1mm of rain falling over 1 sq m is one litre and, speaking very generally, it doesnât drizzle here, it either rains or it doesnât so the tanks filled in the first day of rain after they were installed.
From memory Sydney used to have twice the annual rainfall of London but less than half the number of rainy days. This was in the 1960s and climate change might have varied these figures but I canât be arsed to look them up.
Again more facts for you to absorb, Assman but, hey, what else would you be doing?
Was that really necessary?
He asked a question, I answered it. I suppose it depends on your interest whether it was necessary but I wasnât doing anything else so I didnât mind at all.
Thanks for all of that Brucy, you seem so well informed??
I am partcularly interested in what system you guys use to dump
the first ten minutes of rain into the surroundings?
Do you use the bucket with a hole and a counter weight? Or
knowing you is it some hi tech electronic gadget ??
The numbers you have so kindly supplied me seem to be related
only to the vicinity of Sydney, which, compared to to most of the rest
of OZ is particularly blessed when it comes to rainfall and
consequently rivers also? So do your figures stand for the whole of
Ozzie??
Donkeyman!
Perhaps its what you are used to Brucy??
So you dont notice it in Malaysia??
Just a though!!
Donkekman!
Its a part of his australian charm Vlad, you get used to it after
a while !!
Donkeyman!
Yes Assman I probably do know a bit about it because I installed my water collection system myself.
It is called a âfirst flush diverter systemâ (Google it if you need to know more). There are a lot of different systems but mine is similar to that in the picture except the vertical pipe is over two metres long and 90mm in diameter. When the rain ceases the pipe slowly drains empty through the filter at the bottom ready for the next time.
You are quite correct the dams in question are the Sydney water supply (Sydney Water was probably a bit of a giveaway) but Sydney is 64% of the NSW population however the dams also supply Wollongong, Shellharbour and the Southern Highlands.
That is probably why NSW stands for Newcastle Sydney Wollongong.
Small towns in NSW do run out of water and have had to rely on trucked in water or bore water but we have discussed this elsewhere.
I canât speak for the rest of the country though I know Adelaide gets its water from the Murray River and the rivers all over the country have weirs for town supply. Northern Australia is tropical so has a monsoon but I have no idea where Melbourne or Perth get their water from.
There you go Assman a project for you.
Thanks for the diagramns Brucy, l see that system is an improvement
on the hole in a bucket system as it has less moving parts!
The bucket system was also an ozzie invention if l am remembering
correctly?? So y ou can feel quite proud of your country ?
BTW, How did we get onto ozzie water supplies?
The thread was uk water supplies??
Donkeyman!
Yes you did but I was referring to to the semi expletiveâŚI thought you put up a good case but you blew it.
What on earth is a semi expletive? and which expletive did I use? I looked back at all my messages but I canât see one. You canât mean âdamâ surely?
Sorry about the delay in replying Bruce. The desal water I used to drink in Malaysia was supplied in ½l bottles by the hotel I stayed in in KL. It was free to all hotel guests so I never complained about the taste.