We Top Up Our Pool With Rainwater From a Tank

If you own an outdoor pool, you’ll know how much water is lost to evaporation, leaks and over-splash. Constant topping-up is required.

It also challenges the sanitising system, but that’s another story.

Last year, we received a hefty water bill from our utility company for the top-ups we had to do throughout the summer, which made us rethink our water usage in between times.

Australia is a dry continent. If you combine a growing population with limited rainfall, we have a commodity that increases in value each year. On paper, our governments are scurrying about solving this problem, but not much is getting done on the ground. Independent residents are taking matters into their own hands by installing tanks to capture whatever falls from the sky.

Climate change.

Now, that’s the phrase of the day, isn’t it? It may well be changing, but the larger problem we have regarding water supply is our increasing population. Dams built sixty or more years ago haven’t grown to accommodate, and few new dams have been added. Climate change compounds the problem and takes us backwards at breakneck speed. Water is becoming expensive.

Back to our tanks.

We live in suburbia and have limited space on our property. Frankly, I’d love to have water tanks everywhere, but where could I possibly put them? Ah-ha! I know! There’s a spot between the sewing room and the garage! A slimline tank or two could go there. We don’t use that space for anything. In fact, it’s been a problem area since we moved in. Filling it with water tanks solves two problems.

Okay, this is how it works. Every downpipe on the garage roof had to be altered to redirect the water into the tanks. Both tanks have an overflow outlet, and they are connected. A pipe leaves the tank area and then goes across to the pool. Water enters the tanks whenever it rains, and the excess pours into the pool. If there hasn’t been rain for some time and the overflow is unlikely, we switch by connecting standard lawn hoses to the tank’s outlets and start draining the tanks. They are gravity-fed. We can get about six inches of extra water height in our pool if all the tank water is dumped into it at once.

The water in these two slimline tanks isn’t nearly enough to carry us through the dry summers, but it’s enough to reduce the utility bill significantly.

What about winter when we have more rainy days — more water than our tanks and pool can hold?

I have a bypass pipe. It lets the water run onto the ground (I could put it into stormwater pipes, but I prefer to let the garden have it instead). The sandy substrate easily takes up the excess water.

These tanks are another one of our little contributions to our sustainable lifestyle. You’ll see what I’m talking about if you’ve scrolled through my mish-mash of assorted posts. It’s what I do when I’m not writing dark, adult fiction. Speaking of which, don’t forget to get yourself a copy of my free novel, SEETHINGS! It’s a story to die for! 🙂

–Michael Forman (Author)

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