2025 Update: A Milestone Year for RHA
The Rainwater Harvesting Association continues to build momentum as we establish a strong and united industry voice. We are pleased to share recent progress and key updates as we work to advance rainwater harvesting across Australia.
2025 has been a significant year of transition and progress for the Rainwater Harvesting Association.
We concluded our long-standing relationship with Irrigation Australia and sought industry support to establish a new, independent association. We were encouraged by an enthusiastic response from across the sector.
RHA has now incorporated as a not-for-profit Association, appointed office bearers, adopted a new constitution, and launched our new membership structure.
We have also entered into a contract with The Association Specialists for office support services and continued our subscription to the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC).
The committee would like to extend particular thanks to Jackie Hammond and Anant Yuvarajah, whose leadership and commitment have been essential in achieving these outcomes.
Best wishes to all of you for a brilliant 2026.
Industry Feature
Improving the Performance of Existing Rainwater Tank Systems
Andre Boerema, Service Planning Lead at Sydney Water, spoke first, offering a positive assessment of how rainwater tanks in Sydney could operate more effectively, suggesting that 30% of tank systems are not functioning properly five years after installation.
Key points to address:
- Blocked filters leading to pump overload
- Submersible pump water ingress
- Changeover device failing or needing reset
Underlying causes:
- Poor handover to customers to ensure basic maintenance and warranty
- Early generation changeover devices were poor quality
- Even standard RWT pumps are mismatched to their most frequent demand: toilet flushing
- Resetting pumps and changeover devices should be easy, typically they are not
Andre makes an important point: it is hard to tell if a rainwater tank is not working properly (they fail silently) because there is nothing to indicate the changeover device is using mains water rather than rainwater.
This is clearly valuable feedback to the industry, and we need to verify and address post-installation issues.
Urban Design, Stormwater, and Best Practice Approaches
Ian Adams, from Organica Engineering, is a stormwater engineer with integrated water management software for designing urban development. Ian described how “business as usual” is delivering wall-to-wall concrete and asphalt.
This urban form delivers large and dangerous stormwater flows. There isn’t the budget or the room to upgrade stormwater pipes. The Australian Rainfall and Runoff Guidelines, developed by Engineers Australia and used by local government, recommend an “at source” volume management strategy.
Connecting a rainwater tank to toilets, laundry, and outdoor services is part of best practice. This has been implemented in South Australia through their planning scheme, reducing volume, peak flows, and pollutants. This best practice is also reflected in the Green Star Building ratings, which serve as a means of reducing pollutants.
Design criteria — Dwellings with a rainwater tank storage:
- Connected to at least 60% of the roof area of the dwelling
- Connected to all toilets and washing machine cold taps
- Tank includes a 20–25 mm diameter slow release orifice at the bottom of the detention component of the tank
- Impervious surfaces including roofs, carparks and driveways should be used to calculate the percentage imperviousness of the site
National Policy Development and Smart Monitoring Technologies
Jackie Hammond, Chair of Rainwater Harvesting and CEO of Blue Mountain Co, discussed the outcomes of the soon-to-be-published National Rainwater Harvesting policy based on the work of Professor Coombes, including a 30% reduction in water demand and a 30% reduction in stormwater volume.
Jackie highlighted the RHA Design Specification for rainwater harvesting produced in collaboration with Urban Water Cycle Solutions, which helps the community design and utilise rainwater harvesting systems and address some of Andre’s points.
Jackie presented on the design and operation of the Rain Harvesting Connect’s smart Tank Gauge, explaining how it is changing the way people relate to rainwater harvesting. Initial indications suggest that the yields from rainwater tanks equipped with gauges are high, and they also serve as a valuable tool for the industry to verify the benefits of rainwater harvesting.
There was an interesting response from the industry attendees, including the possibility of working with rainwater harvesting to publish fact sheets for water utility customers.
Advocacy Update: Support for Stormwater Queensland’s Call to Reinstate Rainwater Tanks
RHA strongly supports Stormwater Queensland’s push to restore pre-2013 requirements for rainwater tanks in the Queensland Development Code.
As reported by the ABC, Stormwater Queensland argues that the current settings are a missed opportunity to reduce stormwater impacts and improve household water resilience.
RHA is actively advocating alongside Stormwater Queensland to:
- Restore rainwater tanks as a standard requirement
- Improve Australia’s resilience to drought and flooding
- Deliver better outcomes for waterways, infrastructure, and households
Read the full ABC article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-01/seq-how-to-deal-with-stormwater-runoff-property/106054680
Thank You to Our Founding Members and Supporters
ASC Water Tanks • Ascento Group Australia • Beltrami Group • Bushman Tanks
• Davey Water Products • Elemental Solutions • Graf Australia • Grundfos Pumps
• Kingspan Water & Energy • Nash Water • Never Stop Water • Q Tank • Rain Harvesting
• Rotomade • SFA Australia • White International • Yarra Plastics
Thank you to all members and supporters who have contributed to RHA’s growing momentum.
We look forward to sharing further updates, industry insights, and policy progress in early 2026.
For membership and enquiries: info@rha.org.au