Water. After the earthquakes in Christchurch and Japan, after any emergency or disaster, an immediate call comes for supplies of water. Vital water is often the most instantly affected central supply when pipes and supply channels crash and the search for this life-sustaining substance is on immediately.
Stan Abbott, Director of the Roof Water Research Centre at Massey University Wellington and an acknowledged expert on roof-harvested rainwater, has frequently advocated the use of rainwater tanks for many reasons to do with supplementing the water from mains, providing households in areas of scarce supply or ensuring those in the country have a self-supporting water supply.
Now one of the compelling reasons for back-up water—an emergency or disaster—has come to the fore.
Many-coloured modern tank shapes available today. The common materials are concrete, galvanised steel and polyethylene. They can be round, oblong, oval, fat or slim, tall or flat. There’s even a tough bladder-style flexible “tank.”

Read more in the latest issue of The Shed