My family has not been connected to mains water for over 30 years. During this time, we had a couple of low rain fall periods [less than 50% of average]. We did not run out of water.
Our storage has ranged from 25000L to 50000L, but regardless of that, we have never run out of water.
There is nothing like having all the tanks below 1/4 full to generate water saving habits.
I have an investment of over $7000 in my tanks & pumps for this domestic water. I have a further investment of $2400 in a "grey" water system, for my garden. The cost of maintenance, & operation of these systems is roughly equal to urban water rates. All this investment was achieved on a little less than the average income.
Our farmers are not allowed to pump from the rivers, as that water is required for urban water supply.
Can any of you understand why we feel it is time for you to catch your own water, at your own expense, in your own storage [tanks], rather than take an ever increasing quantity, of our water, from an ever increasing area. Its time ti get off our backs, Brisbane, & stand on your own feet.
Hasbeen

artsgrad - First of all Toowoomba is not in a region with declining rainfall, it is curently in drought status which is not unusual in any part of Australia, droughts can and do happen. Secondly our dams have been extremely efficient given that they are still at 26 percent after 6 years of drought weather and given the fact that during this time TCC started supplying water from them to several surrounding shires and add to that the 2,750 megalitres that have been released each year from Cressbrook Dam for the farmers downstream then you would be slightly incorrect in saying that our dams are inadequate, they have in fact been our saviour.

The city has spent more than a decade telling farmers that they had a duty of care to the environment. This duty of care started out as a claim that we set aside 10% of our farmland for environmental purposes. This grew, over time, to the point where we were expected to set aside 30% of the farm until last year, when Beattie didn't even bother with any particular level and banned all clearing, even in districts that still had 90% of the vegetation intact. And he justified it on the basis of our duty of care.

So what about the city dwellers duty of care? They won't even impose mandatory water tanks on every detached house because the $3-$4,000 would be too much for people, who have just pocketed $150,000 in untaxed capital gains, to pay. The nine square metres from their 600 to 900m3 house block (1-1.5% of total) was considered too inconvenient.

What a sorry bunch of hypocritical scum.

With all my appreciation, admiration and attraction to the US EPA/WHO mentioned with article as grounded fathers of industrialised sewage purification, I would like to admit that modern sanitation has been developed even in the Old World far prior to establishing of the reputable organizations.

And any word on this topic recently provides no clarification of WHAT particularly is supposed to be treated to WHICH requirements (re-use for a water supply, irrigation etc) and HOW local polluters could comply with norms if any were heard of in contemporary Queensland

Rainwater tanks are dismissed as an option for Toowoomba’s future water supply based on cost estimates which are incorrect.

The “Toowoomba Water Futures” plan estimates that the cost of fitting a 10KL rainwater tank to 35 000 Toowoomba houses is $175m while the water yield per house is 25KL. On these figures, a rainwater installation costs $5 000 and yields 25KL of water per household at an average cost of $7/KL. Obviously these costs are not affordable when the cost of mains drinking water in Toowoomba is $0.64/KL.

A 5KL rainwater supply system involving one or more tanks will yield 77KL of water (under current drought conditions) and will cost $2 500 per house if installed for 35 000 existing houses.

The low cost is achieved by using a blow moulding machine for manufacturing plastic rainwater tanks, and by training teams of specialist installers.

The cost of the machine and tooling to manufacture 1250 litre plastic rainwater tanks is about $8 million. A single machine makes one tank every five minutes and can produce 70 000 tanks a year.

The investment in technology and work crews is justified if every house is supplied.

Tanks of 1250 litres capacity are rectangular, slim and low. They fit neatly and unobtrusively beneath the eave of a house. More importantly, they enable four tanks to be positioned to capture water from all downpipes of an average house.

The Federal Government has conditionally offered Toowoomba $23M for the proposed water recycling scheme. Were a grant of $8M to be made to finance the cost of one blow moulding machine, this would ensure that the cost of tanks would be limited to the variable cost of manufacture – comprising labour and materials.

Using Council’s own figures, the subsidy would be worth $2 500 per household. The machine can supply 175 000 houses between Toowoomba and Brisbane over the next 10 years and therefore it will be fully utilised. The cost of the subsidy over 175 000 households is $45 per household.

Greg Cameron

Talking money is not providing water available for re-use.