Uses for rainwater

Rainwater tanks should NOT be used as a means of supplying drinking water in urban areas due to traffic and industry emissions that can settle on roofs.

In order to get good use out of a rainwater tank and maximise its value, you should consider connecting it for indoor usage. In this way you can use the tank all year round and particularly during the winter months when outdoor use is at a minimum.

Garden watering
The percentage of household water use in the garden varies from less than 25% to more than 50% across Australia, generally depending on a household's geographic location.

Larger rain water tanks tend to be more beneficial as you can store a large amount of water from the wet season to use in your garden through dry periods.

Where space is an issue, you may wish to consider a different style of tank or installing two smaller tanks.

Toilet flushing
A toilet can use up to 12L per flush so installing a tank to toilet system can lead to major water savings. An average person uses 30L of water in the toilet per day or 210L per week.

You can install an automatic diversion directly from mains water if the rainwater tank is empty. Alternatively, a trickle top up system uses a float valve to measure how much water you have in your tank. When the water level gets too low, mains water will trickle into the tank to top it up. However, if the tank contains mains water it cannot be used on the garden during water restrictions, so this option should be considered carefully.

In the Laundry
You can save a large amount of water by connecting your washing machine to your tank.

Washing machines can use up to 150L of water per load and most households do 5-6 loads of washing per week. A four star front loading washing machine only uses 47L per load.