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Proud to be rain harvesting during Auckland’s drought

Proud to be rain harvesting during Auckland’s drought

With Auckland facing its worst drought in 25 years, Waste Management’s new Auckland HQ is making good use of our own rain water harvesting system.

Some of the water harvesting tanks that store rain water collected from the Auckland HQ’s rooftops

The site, at 318 East Tamaki Road, has two separate rain water harvesting areas, with seven tanks in total – each holding 25,000 litres of rain water. That’s 175, 000 litres – enough to wash 17,500 wheelie bins! It’s also enough water to last us for 43 consecutive days of no rain.

The water is collected from the roof tops of the Waste Management site, and delivered to the tanks through a system of pipes.

It’s then used for all grey water services through the offices and workshop areas – truck and bin washing, toilet flushing, dishwashers, cleaning stations and water hoses used outside the building – basically everything but drinking water.

Technical Services Manager Tony Gregson next to the management system which alerts him if Waste Management’s harvested water falls below a pre-set level.

The whole network is controlled by our smart building management system software and alerts the team if our rainwater harvesting system falls below a pre-set level, so that we can make decisions about additional water conservation if needed.

Thanks to the recent rain, our tanks are almost full and we’re happy to be doing our bit for the water crisis by using harvested water instead of mains supply.

One of trucks about to enter the truck wash that uses harvested water.