Will your tank last?
How much rain your roof catches in a typical Maleny year, which months fill the tank, and how far that water stretches — plus how much has actually fallen lately.
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How much rain your roof catches in a typical Maleny year, which months fill the tank, and how far that water stretches — plus how much has actually fallen lately.
Most homes around Maleny — and nearly every rural property off the town main — run on rainwater tanks. Up here the rain itself is rarely the problem: about 2,000 mm falls in a typical year, most of it between December and March. The catch is bridging the dry stretch from June to September, when little falls and the tank just draws down. Put in your roof and household to see how much a typical year catches, which months top the tank up, and how far that water stretches.
In a typical year, this roof could catch about
337,300 litres of water
from about 1,984 mm of rain a year
Litres this roof catches each month of a typical year. The rains do the work in a few months — storage carries you through the dry ones.
About 65 mm of rain has fallen in the last 30 days — enough for this roof to have caught roughly 11,100 litres.
These are estimates, not a promise
Live rainfall from Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0) — a weather-model estimate for the area, not a rain gauge on your street. Updated .
Rain off a roof is not drinking water
Rainfall varies a lot around here
Assumes a hard metal (Colorbond) or tile roof with gutters in good order. Some rain is lost to the first flush, gutter overflow in a downpour, and splash — so the catch is a little under the rain that lands.
150 litres a person a day is Seqwater's voluntary “Target 150” for all household uses — drinking, washing, laundry, the garden. Tank households watching their supply often manage on well under that; set it to match how your place really uses water.
Maleny's rain is summer-heavy: December to March each bring 200–320 mm and will top a tank up fast, while June to September average under 110 mm — August and September barely 65 mm. A tank that's full coming out of autumn has to carry the household through that dry stretch, so the number that matters most isn't the yearly total but whether your storage is big enough to bridge winter.
Check the first-flush diverter and that every tank opening has 1 mm insect mesh every few months; clean the roof and gutters and look for animal or bird access twice a year; and check inside for sludge every 2–3 years, de-sludging if it covers the bottom. Queensland Health does not recommend routinely chlorinating roof water.
Rural properties off the town main can order a water-carter delivery (a truck load is roughly 13,000 litres) to top a tank up through a dry winter or drought — worth lining up before the tank runs down, as carters get busy. Homes connected to town water draw treated supply from Baroon Pocket Dam through Unitywater and aren't affected the same way. Get Ready Maleny.