A survey of the characteristics and maintenance of rainwater tanks in urban areas of South Australia

摘要

Households resident in metropolitan Adelaide and surrounding areas in South Australia werenrecruited into a randomised controlled trial. A total of 630 rainwater tanks with a total tankncapacity of 14.5ML were installed at the 325 households surveyed. The majority of the tanksnwere plumbed into the kitchen (64.6%), over 10 years in age (45.5%), over 15,000 L in capacityn(42.5%) and composed of galvanised steel (36.9%). Over 90% of the households undertook onenor more prevention and maintenance strategies for reducing contamination of collectednrainwater. The use of first flush diverters was reported by 30.8% households, the presence ofnleaf control devices on the tank by 57.2%, and the presence of leaf control screens on gutters byn25.5% households. Most households reported that the rainwater tank was cleaned at some time,nwith 50.4% of these households stating that tank cleaning occurred 1 to 5 years previously, andn31.9% more than 5 years prior to enrolment Rainwater from the main drinking tank was samplednfrom a subset of households for turbidity and metals (Al, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Pb, Zn). This informationnregarding tank characteristics and degree of adherence to recommended maintenancenprocedures may assist understanding of variability in rainwater quality data and may helpndetermine whether untreated rainwater can be considered a safe water supply for householdnpurposes including drinking.