Water Tanks, Their Here To Stay.
The water tank trend that has swept across Australia has been at full throttle for more than 6 years now and is showing no signs of slowing down with the recent pressures brought on by rising fuel prices and interest rate hikes. With so much talk around the world about global warming over the last few years many home owners are only just starting to notice the effects and take some action.
For example Australia has only just in recent times come out of an extended drought period but many parts are still suffering the effects. The effects of the drought in rural areas have filtered down to the metropolitan areas with many of Australia’s major cities now affected by strict water restrictions.
Many of our customers in rural areas are now commenting that in 25 years they have never run out of rain water in their existing water tanks until recently and are now buying larger water tanks as a backup supply to complement their current stores of drinkable rainwater.
Water restrictions imposed by the government are now something every consumer will have to get accustomed to as consistent population growth and global warming stretch our precious water reserves to their limits. A few years ago many local governments introduced a water tank rebate scheme which still continues today.
The rainwater tank rebate was introduced to try to encourage the consumer to take accountability of their own non essential use of potable water like watering gardens and washing cars. It is far easier and cheaper for the government to make everyone get rain water tanks than for them to build new dams, as well as better for our environment not flooding so much land that would result in killing thousands of trees and altering the natural flow of rivers.
The introduction of the water tank rebates sparked a boom in the water tank manufacturing community with many now “green conscious” people jumping on the eco friendly band wagon and installing a couple of water tanks. This has sparked a huge rise in water tank manufacturing companies on the east coast of Australia in order to cope with the huge demand driven by the new urban market.
The bubble in the rainwater tanks boom has now burst and water tanks market has now been flooded (no pun intended) with tanks and under cutting within the market is now prevalent. Great for the consumer but not for smaller struggling manufactures. Many small family owned manufacturers and resellers have now closed the doors due to too much competition and only the most astute cashed up businesses are rising to the top to take their share of the water tank boom.
The rainwater tanks boom has been a great boom for the plumbing industry as it is law to have your water tank installed by a licensed plumber if you want to use your rainwater tanks supplies to flush the toilets and use for washing clothes etc.
It is also compulsory to have a plumber sign off on the tanks installation in order to receive the maximum water tank rebate offered by the government.
The introduction of the BASIX regulations has been other bonus for the rain water tanks industry. BASIX is the building sustainability index, which is an assessment tool developed by the NSW Government, to guarantee that natural resources such as energy and water are preserved.
Simply, BASIX is intended to reduce the impact of new housing on the environment. The BASIX tool presently assesses the probable performance of planned new housing against various sustainability indices, including landscape, stormwater, water, thermal comfort and energy.
All new development now have to comply with the BASIX regulations which means in part water tanks for everyone building a new house or doing major renovations.
This has injected a whole new line of new business for the water tank reseller and manufactures alike. Builders and developers are now lining up to buy rainwater tanks in order to have their buildings comply with new regulations and signed off by the local authorities.
What a lot of builders are now fast finding out is that due to high the demand the accessibility to rainwater tanks is not as easy as picking up some nails from the hardware store.
Some water tank manufactures are so in demand that waiting up to 12 weeks for your delivery is common for some rainwater tanks. This is time frame varies from time to time and is to the extreme but a wait of 3 to 4 weeks is more common.
If you lucky enough to find someone with the one you need in stock, you can get off the rack tanks faster if you know where to shop but in these cases you don’t get a choice of where your fittings are positioned and get a limited choice of colours.
If you are building a house or are just thinking of getting a rainwater tank make sure to order your tank well before you need it to avoid disappointment.
Rainwater tanks are here to stay, not a passing craze and something the consumer is going to see more and more in the urban back yard in the future. They are great for the environment and it’s a great feeling to be able to do what you want, whenever you want with the rainwater you collect off your roof without fear of being dobbed in by nosy neighbour’s and prosecution by the water police.
Vist our web site at,
www.rainwatertanksdirect.com.au
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