Brisbane water restrictions

Its amazing how stupid some of these regulators nad rulers are..they are so far out of touch with the humans they are supposed to serve, that its scarey. they probably have an "ADVISOR", that tells them everything is wonderful (like the old YES MINISTER show)

If you wash a boat trailer, you can wash the brakes and springs with a hose (safety issue) but the rest has to be buckets (cosmetic).

Mikee5,

You said "you can wash the brakes and springs with a hose (safety issue)"

Surely this should also apply to our 4by's....mud clogging up everywhere underneath would be classed as the same "safety issue" ?????

Interesting point.
Regards, Trevor.

The regulators are actually very clever as the hassle of using a bucket stops most people washing the car hence the NET amount of water used is less despite the small number who do acutally manage to use more with the bucket.

Hi Jo,

The only problem that I know of with the rebates is that in order to get the state govt one you have to plumb the tank into your toilets with a pump. If you do that then you have to have the tank being topped up by town water if it gets too low as you don't want your toilets to run out of water. Once it is plumbed into the town water the same water restrictions apply to that tank as apply to everything else. Naturally this is not really talked about much by those giving out the rebates.

The tank we have is not plumbed in (we are considering getting another that is) and I have a pump on it so that I can wash the boat, car, fill up the fish pond etc as much as I want :). Of course I still try not to use any more than I have to when I do.

The tank I have is 7,500l and has never been down below about 3,000 since the first storm after we put it in.

Tim.

Hey Tim!
Who was telling me about it said that if it was piped up to your house in someway then Logan wouldn't give you a rebate, but if it was used for outdoor use only then they'd throw you $500. I'd have to suss it out myself. But either way whether you get anything back or not we have wanted to get one so we will do so soon I think.
Cheers
Jo

The rule about being plumbed in with a top up from town water may have changed. Still checking it out myself at the moment.
I am looking at putting in a 2nd 5000l tank. I have installed a 2nd tap for the washing machine under the house. We change over manually, tank to town water and back again. have run the washing machine on town water for a total of 4 weeks since the beginning of the year. Total daily consumption for us is now less than 400 litres a day of town water, even with 4 of us in the house, and the boys (20 & 24) like long showers. I know, timers in the showers next :-) Might get under 300l then.
The water from the washing machine goes onto the garden, well whats left of it. At least the cracks in the clay have stabilised, and footings for the house are not moving as much as they were.

Mark,

The $500 rebate would more than likely from state governement not LG, hence the amount. I don't believe the LG gives you a rebate atm.....unless i'm mistaken :-)

Andrew

Hi Andrew, I will certainly look into it completely myself, Julianna seemed pretty adamant about the rebates, and if it is true that is great but at the same time if you buy a tank for $1800.00 I really can't see the government and council giving you back a total of $1500 odd dollars! They can't be that generous.

Cheers
Jo

Jo,

You sound a bit skeptical ;-) Maybe you have a valid point :-)

At the end of the day, with this much demand for tanks etc, not seen in urban areas for years, one would think prices would have come down in the last year or two since water restrictions were increased. I would like to see the prices compared to, say 3-4 years ago :-)

Tell us how you go......

Andrew

The prices were definately cheaper than what I thought they'd be. the oblong or round 3000Lt was $1800, whether you go colour bond or the plastic. Apparently though the colourbond you only get a 10-16 year lifespan. But going on what info she was saying is enough to give me some base to work on until I actually start doing the looking myself!
Cheers
Jo

Hi Jo,

This is the state govt web site - www.nrm.qld.gov.au/water/index.html

This is the logan council one - Site Link

All the info is there if you have a look :).

See Ya,

Tim.

I should have read those sites myself before posting my first post. You can get the state govt rebate without being plumbed into the internal systems. I was right though that if you have the tank topped up by town water then the same water restrictions apply.

Thanks for that Tim.
I noticed on the ads for Brisbane Extra this afternoon they are doing the whole thing on the water tanks and rebates! I'll be at work by then though.

Cheers
Jo

Andrew,

In regard to the price of tanks. We bought and installed a 5000l tank in january.
Delivered with pump, it was $850.00. I did my own installation to the laundry for the washubg machine, putting another cock on the wall so we change over manually. Was about $150.00 in pipes and fittings.
Now I notice that you can get a 5000l tank, with pump, and installed got the $1850.00 rebate, being BCC and state govnmt rebates.
If tank and pump prices have not changed too much, $850.00 pays for a lot of plumbers time.

You're an ideas man!

Good thingking any use of used grey water is a good idear.

does "grey water" only come from "grey nomads" ;-)

Andrew

Technically in brisbane you are not allowed to collect grey water.
Know a friend though that have put a diverter in the drain from the bath/shower to a small tank, which trickle feeds the garden.
Could pump that water back through the toilet though, or use it to wash the car. Highly illegal at the moment :-).

If we reuse all of the grey water, what will flush the sewage system?
Sewage people are already worried about that one.

hey oldplodder,

Where did that info about greywater "technically being not allowed" come from? Check out " target="EOF" class="lbg">www.lgp.qld.gov.au/?id=3044 for info on greywater reuse.....or contact council as i believe there are state government rebates ($500 and $200 iirc)for greywater reuse schemes. There may be some conditions which may affect where/when you may use greywater reuse schemes, however my understanding is that you may be eligible.

BTW there is no such thing as a "sewage system"....... ;-)

Considering 99% of the sewage is water (as it includes all greywater etc), there is currently no problem with "flushing" the system as it only needs to get to the local pump station by gravity and then it normally "pumped" from then on. Remember that toilets are not considered part of greywater, therefore the amount of water used to flush will more than adequately flush the chunky bits down your system by itself if greywater is reused.

Andrew

You may be right. I need to double check.
Most local government bodies allow catching of grey water, but I Understood the brisbane city council is the exception. Will check.