# What are the large Green Tanks in the gardens of some NZ homes??



## Pippar (Aug 31, 2011)

Hi All, 
Looking at all the real estate sites and getting an idea of what my family would like to move into once we have settled, but i have 1 question please ..............
In some of the pictures on the property sites, some houses have these large green Tanks in either the front, but mainly the back gardens.
What are these for and is it wise to stay away from these, or are they perfcetly fine and a normal thing to have, and also costs of whatever goes in or leaves these tanks!!!??:confused2:
I would be most gratefull for any info , Many Thanks 
Pip x


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## Guest (Dec 5, 2011)

Our large green tank here in the UK contains Kerosene for heating the house. ICould that
be the answer ?


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

Higgy said:


> Our large green tank here in the UK contains Kerosene for heating the house. ICould that
> be the answer ?


Lol no - they are water tanks!

Many Kiwi houses that are out of the major towns (even on new estates) will not be on mains water and sewerage. So they will have rain collection water systems and independent sewerage systems. 

The great thing about them is that you don't pay any water or sewerage rates. The down side is they do require some infrequent maintenance, and occasionally in very dry summers you may run short of water.

But NZ is well set up for these systems. They are generally very easy to live with - and there are companies that go round with water tankers selling water to people who's tanks have run dry.


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## carosapien (Oct 16, 2011)

Pippar said:


> Hi All,
> Looking at all the real estate sites and getting an idea of what my family would like to move into once we have settled, but i have 1 question please ..............
> In some of the pictures on the property sites, some houses have these large green Tanks in either the front, but mainly the back gardens.
> What are these for and is it wise to stay away from these, or are they perfcetly fine and a normal thing to have, and also costs of whatever goes in or leaves these tanks!!!??:confused2:
> ...


Yes they're drinking water tanks, many houses in New Zealand don't have mains water or sewage, even in some of the built up areas in Auckland like in Rodney people still use them. Many will have only the minimum water filtration, maybe a sock thing to keep out debris like leaves.

Plastic tanks have a shorter life than concrete, they can split and warp and the water gets hot in the sun. Concrete is usually a far better option.

A generator are useful incase you get a power cut otherwise you'll have no running water. Some septic tank systems also use power.


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## Pippar (Aug 31, 2011)

Oh!!!! I see , thank you everyone, at least i now know its something not to run a million miles from!!
Any other things like that i should know about!!?? 
Thank you .


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## Song_Si (Jun 11, 2010)

one other reason for the tanks is simply rainwater conservation; neighbours had one they semi-concealed by having it dug into sloping ground, collected rainwater runoff from the roof which they used in dry times for their garden - and not adding chlorine/fluoride etc to the soil. I wastefully switched on my sprinkler system using council water . . . saw last week another move to charge for water in Wellington - water meter on each house - so their idea may become more common.


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

Pippar said:


> Oh!!!! I see , thank you everyone, at least i now know its something not to run a million miles from!!
> Any other things like that i should know about!!??
> Thank you .


Yes - search on here (and the Internet) for 'Leaky Buildings'!


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## relocatella (Nov 27, 2011)

I am glad to read such tanks exist.
With my husband we were wondering what usage was made of all this rain water!

So much "council processed drinkable water" can be saved in collecting rain water. I always feel bad every time I flush my toilets, water my plants, clean my laundry using city drinkable water. 

In Paris, where we currently live, the city uses non drinkable water for watering city parks and gardens, cleaning the streets etc.. I wish apartments were connected to this system, at least for the toilets flush.

When it will be our time to buy a house, for sure we will instal one of these tanks if not already in place!

:spit:


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## Song_Si (Jun 11, 2010)

some more info

_Smarter Homes_ website: Collecting and using rainwater

Urba Water

WaterSmart

The WaterSmart site has these figures (relating to Kapiti, small town north of Wellington):


A sprinkler uses 1000 litres per hour of water
An average person uses 250 litres a day in NZ
100mm of rain on 100m2 of roof area = 10,000 litres (average house size = 200m 2) 
Yearly rainfall in Kapiti is about 1500mm

also looked at the website for a new housing development near where I used to live in Wellington, note that every house is being fitted with a rainwater storage system; tanks don't have to be external/visible, esp smaller ones for the garden can be hidden under deck/balcony etc.


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

We've installed solar power too. Anything we don't use goes into the grid, and we can take extra out if we need it too.


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## relocatella (Nov 27, 2011)

Thank you very much for the valuable information.

Song Si, I am always amazed to read how much interesting information you manage to share on this forum when not currently residing in N-Z. I wish I could help a tenth of what you do on the French part of the forum.


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## Song_Si (Jun 11, 2010)

^ thanks! my head is full of trivia . . . as part of my employment in several jobs I ran orientation programmes for new staff, mostly international recruits and programmes running from 1-5 days duration would bring up all types of questions - and I was the one expected to either know, or find out the answer. 
Some of that knowledge has stuck, sadly replacing things (limited space) that I really should remember; have conveniently forgotten HR and immigration legislation.

Back to water conservation . . . we use laundry/shower water on the garden, tap water is metered and not suitable for drinking either; as we're in dry season now, no significant rain till April/May conservation is a must.


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