Opinion: At last, water the way we want it

Water, water everywhere. That's what I'll be having soon.

Not the uncontrolled, annoying kind of water that runs down the windows, drips from the ceiling or washes out the drive.

Not the random kind that springs up in the paddocks willy-nilly after heavy rain.

This will be water the way we want it - on tap and plentiful.

We are getting a new water tank.

A great big one that will collect and store rainwater for us, and can be topped up from our spring when the rain stays away.

It's going to have all the bells and whistles - first flush diverters to direct the first few litres of any rainfall away from the tank, along with any dust, dirt and droppings that might have washed off our roof; leaf screens, for obvious reasons; and a filter.

And we will have a pump, to give us mains pressure everywhere.

That will be a luxury, but also will use a lot of extra water.

So the spring and tanks that have been our house supply are also staying.

They will give us water for the garden, for washing the car and the windows, for flushing the toilet and for topping up the rainwater tank.

I'm sure we will still fill up the odd bottle of fresh cool spring water for drinking, too.

Our spring has been great for all the years we've lived here, except if there's a long drought.

Every five years or so it stops, and we usually don't realise until the tank is half empty.

And once it has stopped, it takes days of rain to get it started again.

Meanwhile, we can be watching water run off the roof and down the drain, while not having enough in the tank for normal use.

The last straw for me was one night this year when I started running a bath for my toddler grandson and ran out of water.

Then when a truckload of water was delivered the next day, the act of pumping it into the tank stirred up all the silt at the bottom, which took weeks to settle back down again - weeks during which we had to get drinking water at Speight's.

But all that's going to end.

Soon we will be harvesting all the rain and the spring can take care of itself.

I know what it's like having a rainwater tank - we've got one at the crib.

But that is a old-school tiny metal tank and the water it stores is not fit to drink, though it's fine for washing dishes or showering and leaves my newly washed hair feeling lovely.

The new one will be much bigger and better.

Baths all round! I can hardly wait.