kiwinow

I don't know if I've asked this before, but if I have I've fogotten. While over then on our reccie we noticed that, especially in Qld, a lot of houses had notices on their gate stating what sort of water they are on, eg tank water, bore water, spear water. Anyone know why? Some of these areas were suburban so I presume they were also on town water and I thought it was mandatory in Qld to have a rain water tank

Also, why does spear water leave a rust-like stain on the buildings?

bcworld

They have the sign so that when people see them hosing the garden or the car people know (or assume) they are not using town water and don't dob them in to the council - people have come to blows & even been killed over hosing arguments / misunderstandings!

They are of course on town water too for drinking etc.

It may be mandatory on a new build to have a tank but certainly not on an existing house.

BTW we are now allowed to hose in Brisbane, one day per weekend for half an hour. Dams at 41.5% vs nearly 15% a year ago.

sassie

People tend to display their water source to let people know they are not using town water, if they are seen to be watering the garden, etc, especially when water restrictions are in place. Regarding water tanks, in Qld they are only compulsory for new builds.

spartacus

I'm not sure I understand the question.

kiwinow

Well we were told that spear water causes a rust like stain, but not why. Then we noticed as we were driving around that several buildings that claimed to use spear water had rust like stains up the side of their homes. I don't really know what spear water is or why it would cause that.

spartacus

Ahaah.

A sand spear is basically a shallow water bore. If you live on the Coastal Strip, chances are you have water just under your feet. The average depth of a sand spear on the Sunshine Coast is about 4.8 metres or 16 feet. A sand spear will most likely give you greater pressure than town water and enable you to run 2 sprinklers at once. (Site dependent on available ground water). No longer do you have to worry about water restrictions.

Must just be natural pigmentation, or salt content.

Wol

It's iron.

Iron content varies but will cause staining on light coloured walls, driveways etc. To some extent it can be minimised by pumping the bore water into a holding tank and letting it settle for a while.

Our bore is 120m deep and the iron analysis is lowish, but it will still stain if the irrigation sprays onto the house too much - for example if it's windy.