Tanks to cheap water
Page 1 of 2 5:00AM Sunday June 24, 2007
By Jared Savage
Thousands of new homeowners are being forced to install water tanks to protect the environment - a move that could end up saving them thousands of dollars.
Local authorities are investigating ways to stop water being flushed down the drain needlessly, not to save ratepayers money, but to stop fragile streams being flooded.
However, the $3000 price tag for a water tank can be recouped in water bill savings in just three years - a great return, when water in Auckland costs four times as much as it does in Christchurch (see table). In the past three years, more than 2000 homes on Auckland's North Shore had had rain tanks installed, said Jan Heijs, infrastructure planner for North Shore City Council.
Proposed district plan changes mean thousands more will be needed for subdivisions across the booming city, although an Environment Court appeal has been lodged by a developer for a project in Long Bay.
While most Australian cities now required new homes to have a tank to save water, Heijs said the North Shore council's regulations were simply to save the fragile ecosystem.
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