DOUBLE STANDARDS

Kate you’re always going on about how unfair water restrictions are and how you should have a choice as to how you use your water inside or in the garden.
So why pick on water transfer pumps- surely when reducing energy use we have the choice on how and what we use.
Water transfer pumps for moving rain or grey water around an urban garden uses less energy in a year than you use driving to the central market and back just once & may be less than using your computer.
How many times do you think the mains water delivered to your door has been pumped? Pumped from the Murray River into storage, and then pumped through a series of pumping stations and tanks before it arrives at your tap. On the other hand rainwater falls onto the roof is collected and depending on topography and use may go through a single small water transfer pump. This could be electric, petrol, solar, wind or hand.
One of the reasons we live where we do is because of the water supply.
Our water supply sits at 70 & 30 meters below ground. The bore at 70 meters is pumped via an efficient ¾ hp 3 phase pump to a storage tank (both are at the top of the hill) the tanks are fitted with a float switch , that turns on the pump when the water level drops 1000gal and fills it up. Much more efficient than the pump turning on and off with use. This gravity feeds the orchards and gardens.
At 30 meters the water emerges as springs in the valley. To use this water it needs to be collected in a dam, pumped uphill and stored before it can be initialized.
By their very nature, rainwater tanks on buildings need to be lower than the gutters to collect the water.
Rainwater that feeds our house needs a pump to access it. The same pump also pumps it to the hot water service so it can gravity feed the house.
Mains water passes our property but is not connected. We have to pay a supply charge of $44 per quarter plus $37 save the river Murray levy per quarter and we don’t even use the stuff.
In the end we can all make choices on how we reduce consumption of all things. For us its growing most of our own food, having a small house as energy efficient as a 1870’s house can be, one car, our own firewood , shopping locally , reusing & buying secondhand , having our own water, Our farm uses only single cylinder machines , well serviced and efficient (most brought second hand) But this is not new or following the current trend for us its our way of life and has been for most of our lives & more emphasized over the past 25 years here at Nirvana.