There is a global water crisis that is forcing people to drastically change their perceptions about water. Where what was once considered to have an ‘unlimited’ supply, fresh water is recognised as a very limited resource and can no longer be taken for granted. Although still freely available in urban areas, the drought situation has increased the incidence of interrupted supply.

In South Africa we have become used to power outages and load shedding – However, to be without water, even in an urban environment, is exponentially more serious than being forced to survive without power for a period of time.  In fact for the elderly and infants, a few hours without water is considered to be life-threatening.  Hence in the instance of a water shedding situation, water trucks are mobilised and water stations established. All of this places the average urban resident at the mercy of the local municipality, as there is only so much space in the fridge for water bottles and a hastily filled bath doesn’t make for the best emergency water ‘reservoir’.

Since space is an issue for most residential homes a traditional water tank or rainwater harvesting system can be a challenge to install. But, thanks to South Africa’s leading manufacturer of water storage tanks, a new range of water tanks has been released. These slim water tanks have increased water storage capacity but only occupy a small area, giving homeowners greater flexibility for installing a rainwater harvesting system.  Additionally, the tanks come in a range of colours that will allow homeowners to choose a water tank that will blend into the background.

The smallest water tank from the new range can hold up to 1000 litres of harvested rainwater, which is enough (used sparingly) to allow an average family to ‘survive’ a disruption in water supply.