JourneyOnline
IN A BOLD ecological move that sounds like a bad pun Living Waters Uniting Church congregation in Brisbane’s outer south-western suburbs has installed a 200,000 litre rainwater tank on their church property.
Church Council Chairperson Mr Mike Kolln said the tank will help alleviate Brisbane’s water crisis by using rainwater in the toilets of their short term emergency accommodation building, The Shack, and by irrigating the church gardens and lawns.
Mr Kolln said Living Waters was an eco-friendly congregation and had received a water grant from stage one of the Federal Government Community Water Grants scheme to help fund the project.
“We were and still are very concerned about the drought and lack of water,” Mr Kolln said.
“It did not fit right with our faith that we were allowing the rainwater from our large church roof area and from The Shack to run out into the street. To us this was extremely poor stewardship of a resource supplied by God.
The tank currently has almost one metre of water in it.
“The pump, irrigation system and water to flush the toilets in The Shack are up and running. The pump has a water meter on it so that we can easily advise the government how much town water we are saving.”
Mr Kolln said collection of greywater had been investigated but the amount generated by a church property was small and the cost could not be justified.
“Our overall thinking was that by having the tank we would be making a very positive contribution to reducing our dependence on town water and would be good stewards of God’s rain.”
Signage has been installed to tell people about the project and, as the church is located in a prominent corner position and used by many community groups, Living Waters Uniting Church believe their initiative will help to increase water conservation awareness in the area.
Photo : Rev Mark Dewar (left) and Church Council Chair Mike Kolln with the new rainwater tank. Photo by Sue Kolln
