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Panorama has developed a formal Water Management Strategy, which our Advisors can discuss with you. It manages operation and maintenance strategy, design, equipment selection and peripheral devices that can turn your pool from a consumer of water to a reservoir of water without demand or drain on the drinking supply. This is not a light claim as many pool owners who have only a small amount of water saving design features will attest from their personal experience.
Moreover the Swimming Pool and Spa Association (SPASA) has a very similar approach with a formal independently ratified Eco Pool program to ensure the ongoing viability of new and old pools no matter what weather conditions we need to face. This welcome development will offer the pool owner a certification that will have recognition that will have meaning with the water commission and other regulatory bodies.
In the interim visit the SPASA web site (link below) to learn about pools and saving water
www.spasa.com.au/ConsumerInfo/SaveWater.htm
At the time of authoring this page, the below areas in South East Queensland now have level 5 water restrictions.
Level 6 Water Restrictions Council Areas
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Beaudesert Shire Council
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Ipswich City Council
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Brisbane City Council
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Kilcoy Shire Council
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Caboolture Shire Council
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Laidley Shire Council
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Council of the Shire of Esk
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Logan City Council
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Gatton Shire Council
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Pine Rivers Shire Council
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Gold Coast City Council
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Redcliffe City Council
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Some basic Level 6 facts about building your pool.
YES - you can build a swimming pool
YES - you can have water put into the pool
YES - you can use (as a last resort) your tap to top up the pool once its been filled
The Water Commission clearly does not want to impede the Queensland community in our subtropical climate from owning and enjoying the lifestyle benefits that a pool brings especially since the SPASA members have demonstrated it is quite straight forward to drought proof the industry. The SPASA members and their families are appreciative of this stance and hence are doing what we can as a community to assist in supporting the Government in these endeavours to maintain a healthy vibrant swimming pool industry. As a matter of trivia, the pool industry in South East Queensland accounts for 6000 odd directly employed people.
Fortunately South East Queensland has lots of water available that is outside of the reservoirs and reticulated drinking water systems that is very suitable for filling a pool. A vibrant water trucking industry has sprung up over the last 6mths to cart water from spring water supplies (out Ipswich way) or clean bore water (down Loganholme way) and from the southern end of the Sunshine Coast catchments.
Admittedly the down side of this activity is the typical family pool is now about $900 to $1500 which is more expensive in 2007 than it was in 2006, due to having trucks deliver it, but it’s a one off cost, and in the overall scheme of getting a pool installed not a onerous one.
The exciting news is with the simple addition of a pool blanket (or other evaporation inhibiting barrier). When using this barrier when you are not swimming, it means that the pool is adequately topped with sporadic rain we’ve had over the last few years. Add to this concepts of the pool as a reservoir, low water usage filtration systems and such (talk to our Advisors for greater detail) and you’ll find the need for a tap can if not eliminated can be very close to it.
The Queensland Government has also assisted with the “Home Waterwise Scheme” providing very low cost ($20 visit).This is a scheme to assist you in getting your house water efficient. A number of ‘Panorama staff’ houses have utilised the Waterwise visits and have reported without a doubt its a great value for money service and will take most a long way towards level 5 compliance. In many cases a Waterwise visit and a pool blanket will see most homes fully compliant.
www.homewaterwise.com
Adding an inexpensive down pipe diverter (about $35) or a rain water tank will also be a terrific way of capturing the rain for use around the pool and garden, rather than have it disappear down the storm water. .
For the area of water restrictions research the best place to start is the Water Commission web site and the links below can take you there. At Panorama we hasten to add our web site is not intended to be a substitute for your own research, as irrespective of our best intention and efforts we can’t warrant the information on this site is current, fully accurate or devoid of omission. So we’d encourage you to look into water yourself prior to committing to any particular course of action.
www.qwc.qld.gov.au/myfiles/uploads/level%205/FS_pools_v4.pdf
www.qwc.qld.gov.au/Level+5+restrictions
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