State of the Environment

2006

Indicator: HS-47 Number of tanks installed in residential areas

Data

Rainwater Tanks in households, Australia: 2000-01

Rainwater Tanks in households, Australia: 2000-01

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Water Account Australia 2000-01 (Corrigendum), Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, viewed 19 Apr 2006, http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/Lookup
/3F827B81038FB658CA256F4C007B96A9/$File/46100_2000-01%20(corrigendum).pdf, p.88.

More detailed information is available from the ABS National Water Account 2000-2001:

Information on rainwater tanks is based on data collected in the ABS household surveys and first presented in the publication Environmental Issues: People's Views and Practices 2001 (cat. no. 4602.0).

Number and Proportion of Households with Rainwater Tanks as Source of Water
Capital cities vs rest of Australia - 1994 -2004
Capital Cities

Rest of Australia

Australia wide
('000) % ('000) % ('000) %
1994 261.9 6.7 714.5 28.6 976.4 15.2
1998 340.6 7.9 839.4 31.0 1180.0 16.9
2001 338.3 7.5 817.4 29.0 1155.7 15.7
2004 409.1 8.6 933.6 30.9 1340.7 17.2

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005, Canberra.

What the data mean

Over 1.3 million (or 17%) households sourced their water supply from rainwater tanks in March 2004. This number is 12% higher than the 1.1 million households with water tanks in 2001. The proportion of households that sourced their water supply from water tanks was 15.2% in 1994, 16.9% in 1998 and 15.7% in 2001.

In 2000-01 the largest number of households with water tanks was in South Australia.

Data Limitations

The actual volume of water from rainwater tanks used by households in Australia is poorly understood.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Human Settlements — General responses provided to improve the environment - Other responses 

The number of rainwater tanks used by households as a source of water supply is an indicator of the amount of water harvested that would otherwise be lost as stormwater and is therefore an indicator of the societal response to water wastage. Water supply from rainwater tanks can act as back-up supply to complement mains water supply during periods of drought, peak supply shortages, or water quality problems.

Other indicators for this issue:

Further Information

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