Page 30 - HW April 2021

spouting & guttering
LEONARDO DA VINCI said: “In time and with water, everything changes”.
Covering the broad topic of rainwater management, in past years we have reported ongoing high levels of interest in the renewal and management of rainwater systems but relatively modest interest in and demand for rainwater harvesting products and systems, certainly compared to overseas markets.
Now, it appears the tide has turned (forgive the pun!), with this change being driven not by an embarrassment of water but by a dearth.
Take the Auckland region, which received significantly less rainfall than normal in the last year – in fact 40% less than normal between November 2019 and May 2020.
This meant April 2020’s total volume of dam-stored water dropped below 50% for the first time in more than 25 years. Water use bans ensued, here and elsewhere – indeed just
over half of the country’s water service providers put in place water restrictions during 2019-2020, in total affecting almost 76 million resident days.
These bans were a big disappointment for homeowners who, faced with restrictions on travel and movement, in the last year have turned more than ever to gardening as a hobby, as an outlet and as a means of home improvement.
Calls for improved water management have also ensued, and
with good reason – when there is plenty of rainwater we just watch it go down the drain.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
USE IT OR LOSE IT
Auckland’s average town supply water consumption is 157 litres per person per day.
Compare this to the 106 litres per person per day reported at the best practice, higher density urban development at Hobsonville Point on Auckland’s North Shore.
There, water management is a high priority and most dwellings (if not apartments) are served by rain tanks sized to supply 75% of water used in household toilets, laundries and gardens.
That’s an extreme case made doable by an NFP body actively curating a range of new urban scale developments (desirable because Aucklanders are still alone in being charged by volume used), but it’s possibly a big ask in the case of an existing home.
Nonetheless, driven by both new builds and renovations, I’ve been hearing from a wide range of sources that demand for products addressing rainwater diversion and retention or detention has boomed in the last year plus.
Murray Brown at Browns Brushware for one says: “The high level of demand for gutter protection means that there is clearly
A vertical garden system
One of the first companies to offer easily sited water management options for urban settings, Thin Tanks NZ has been operating since 2013, offering a range of upright, slimline Thin Tanks retention/detention tanks and Thin Pots (planting modules that hang off the tanks) in a wide range of colours.
Adding to the existing range of 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 litre tanks is the new 4,000 litre Thin Tank measuring 2.92 x 1.97 x 0.75m (L x H x W) and weighing in at 200 kg.
To turn a Thin Tank into a “vertical garden system”, Thin Pots (designed to suit the 1,000 & 2,000 litre Thin Tanks) clip on to the front of the tank. A penetration at the top and in the middle of the pot allows for an irrigation dripper to be installed while two small holes in the bottom take care of drainage.
www.thintanks.co.nz
28 NZHJ | APRIL 2021
MORE AT www.hardwarejournal.co.nz