During the past year (i.e., the period from 17/5/06 to 23/5/07) 5371 kilolitres of SA (town-supply) water was used within the AAEV site. Of this, 2557 kl was used for private purposes by the lot owners (plus all the rainwater collected in residents' tanks). The remaining 2814 kl's of town-supply water were used for watering trees and plants around the Village. This water has cost us a total of $2,787 plus $360 in supply charges - ie, a total of $3,147

During this same period the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) pumped 1989 kl out on to the small wood-lot on the farm.
Since the previous email about wastewater, outflow of the WWTP has risen from 5.4 kl to 7 kl a day.

As we are enjoying such good rains at the moment and the woodlot certainly does not need additional water just now, I can't help but wonder if a previously mooted suggestion to store the WWTP winter output in the dams on the farm shouldn't be revisited. If this were done, the wastewater could potentially be shandied with collected storm water, allowing for improvement of the quality of WWTP output for irrigation purposes. In the early part of the dry period this same water could then be pumped onto the farm area. Might be worth thinking about as water becomes more of an issue for the future?