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Waterwise House & Garden: A Guide to Sustainable Living (Landlinks Press) PDF

200 Pages·2003·6.02 MB·English
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Waterwise House&Garden A Guide for Sustainable Living Allan Windust National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication: Windust, Allan. Waterwise house and garden: a guide for sustainable living. ISBN 0 643 06800 7 ISBN 0 643 0698 6 1. Landscape gardening – Water conservation – Australia. 2. Water conservation – Australia – Citizen participation. I. Title. 333.91220994 Copyright © Allan Windust 2003 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact LANDLINKS PRESS for all permission requests. First published 2003, reprinted 2003 Published by and available from: Landlinks Press PO Box 1139 Collingwood Vic. 3066 Australia Telephone: +61 3 9662 7666 Freecall: 1800 645 051 (Australia only) Fax: +61 3 9662 7555 Email: Foreword There is no doubt that Australia is a dry country where water plays an important role in growing plants, particularly at present. We use a lot of water in our homes, especially on our gardens. Most parts of Australia have dry periods that can extend to become droughts. Right now many cities are experiencing problems maintaining their water supplies. These problems will continue into the future unless we act now. We can all use less water in our houses and gardens. Allan Windust shows many ways we can reduce our water consumption and still live well. He offers a range of options – some require little effort beyond changing our everyday habits in small ways that, in the end, add up to significant water savings. I like the way he explains the science behind gardening and how plants use water. This gives us insights into how we can become waterwise gardeners. The book mentions many plants that you could find useful in your area, but remember to talk with your local nursery about such plants. Allan has given a lot of thought to the management of a waterwise house and garden. Well done Allan – I’m sure readers will be rewarded with your many hints. Always remember: gardening must be relaxing, not something to worry about. Happy gardening! Kevin Heinze AM Kevin and Allan with the eucalypt that Kevin planted in his garden over 40 years ago. This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 The value of water 3 Chapter 3 The importance of plants 5 Work with nature 5 A positive experience 6 Chapter 4 The house and garden system 7 Aim to survive and go on surviving 7 Spin-offs 8 The suburban carbon sink 8 The suburban aviary 9 Salinity 9 Dollars and cents 11 Australian climate 11 Australian droughts 11 Chapter 5 Waterwise strategies 15 Choose your approach 15 Know your climate 15 View the house and garden as a system 16 Rainfall 16 Mains water 17 Garden evapotranspiration and seepage losses 17 Household losses 18 Become water-conscious then a water-saver 18 Chapter 6 Waterwise options 19 Household reticulation options 19 Toilet 19 Shower 19 Washing machine 20 Laundry sink 20 Hand basin 20 Kitchen sink and dishwasher 20 Bath 20 Garden watering methods and appliances 21 Bucket using mains water 21 Hose using mains or tank water 21 Sprinklers using filtered mains water 22 Misters using filtered mains water 24 Porous (sweat) hoses using filtered low-pressure mains or tank supply 25 Dripper hoses using filtered mains or tank water 26 Individual drippers using filtered mains or tank water 27 Filters for mains supply or tank water 27 vi Waterwise House & Garden Timers 28 Moisture meters 28 Automated systems using mains pressure systems 29 Pot plants 29 On-site catchment and storage in water tanks 30 Regulations 30 Uses 31 Capacity 31 Drinking water 32 Installation 32 Tank construction 33 Inspection and maintenance 33 Elevated water tank 34 On-ground water tank 34 Your swimming pool 35 Underground water tank 35 Tank water for toilet cisterns 36 Ponds 37 Recycling household wastewater 37 Recycling untreated grey water onto the garden 39 Washing machine and washing tub grey water 40 Showers: clear or grey water 40 Baths: grey water 40 Hand-basins: grey water 41 Kitchen sink or dishwasher: grey water 41 Septic tank effluent: black water 41 Treatment and reuse of grey water 41 Use of treated grey water on gardens 48 Grey water reuse conclusions 48 Garden watering methods 49 Moisture testing 49 Frost 50 Heat stress 50 Foliage or root watering 51 Lawns 51 Water budget 52 Watering times 52 Chapter 7 The theory and practice of mulching 53 Insulation 54 Mulch as habitat and food 55 Worms in soil without mulch 56 Worms in soil with mulch 56 Soil protection 56 Weed suppression 57 Weeds as green manure 57 Mulch as cosmetic ground cover 57 Applying mulch 58 Vegetables and flowers 59 Trees and shrubs 62 Non-organic mulches 62 Contents vii Living mulches 63 Self-mulching plants 64 Mulch materials 65 Garden and household collectables 65 Outside collectables or purchases 66 Mulch as habitat for pests 67 Mulch materials list 68 Chapter 8 Planning your waterwise garden 83 Your aims 83 Resources 84 Finances 84 Time 84 Attitude 85 Labour and equipment 85 Site assessment 85 Site plan 85 Your garden climate 87 Topography: drainage 91 Existing plants 92 Impediments and assets 92 Site assessment plan 93 Design 95 Activity areas and linkages 95 Dry zones and wet zones 95 Fire buffer zones 97 Examples of wet/dry zone fire-retardant designs 97 Model kitchen garden 99 Garden water recycling 101 The master plan 102 Chapter 9 Plants 105 Your prize plants 105 Survival plants 105 Australian plants 106 Plants of the world 107 Chapter 10 Help with plant selection 109 Your local water authority 110 Your local indigenous nursery 110 Your local botanic garden 110 Public parks and specialist gardens 111 Societies for growing Australian plants 111 On-line 112 Chapter 11 What to do during a drought 113 Essentials 113 Develop a routine 114 Start the waterwise design process 114 Select construction projects 114 Determine not to forget 114 Look after the animals 115 viii Waterwise House & Garden Things to try 115 Using pots to advantage 116 Golden rules for the waterwise gardener 116 Chapter 12 The future 119 Black water perspective 119 Grey water 120 Attitudes 120 Public health 121 Damage to the environment 122 Technology 122 Stormwater 124 Desalinisation 124 Appendix 1 The importance of water to plants 125 The whole plant 125 The healthy plant 125 The stressed plant 125 Soil 126 Roots 127 Stem 128 Leaves 128 Flowers and fruit 129 Plant cells 129 Plant strategies to overcome dry conditions 130 Roots 130 Stem 131 Leaves 132 Overall plant strategies 133 Appendix 2 Australian plants tolerating very dry conditions 135 Appendix 3 Exotic drought-tolerant plants 145 Appendix 4 Fire-retardant species 161 Appendix 5 Drain stranglers and cloggers 163 Appendix 6 Wastewater reuse EPA guidelines 165 Appendix 7 Water audit 167 Indoor usage 167 Outdoor usage 172 Appendix 8 Publications 181 Australian natives 181 Waterwise garden books 181 Herbs 182 Earthworms 182 Water reuse 182 General 183 About the author 185 Acknowledgements A book such as this could not be written without the help of experts in the field of effi- cient water use. My thanks to the following specialists with the various water authorities for giving me their time, access to information and comments on the text of this book: • Bruce Rhodes and the staff at Melbourne Water • Des Horton and his associates at City West Water, Elio Comello of the Habitat Trust and the staff of Basaltica demonstration garden • Keith Johnson at South East Water • Barry Jepperson of Brisbane City Council. I am grateful to the Urban Water Research Association of Australia for allowing the publication of information and diagrams on domestic grey water reuse. Thanks also to Polymaster water-tank manufacturers for information and photographs of water tanks. My gratitude goes as well to staff of Australia’s various botanic gardens for help with waterwise plant information. In particular, the staff of the Royal Melbourne Botanic Garden for allowing me to photograph the dry and arid garden sections. I also wish to express my appreciation to Dr Simon Toze and Bradley Patterson at CSIRO Land and Water for access to their research into water reuse in South Australia and Western Australia. Finally, I would like to thank Ted Hamilton of CSIRO Publishing for his help and advice in seeing this work through to completion. The help of all these experts made my path easier. Allan Windust

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