DIY solves water pickle

By Shaun Inguanzo
A KEYSBOROUGH couple is tackling Melbourne’s water crisis with an army of pickle drums, old hosing, and plastic bottles.
But the unique water-saving technique that has allowed Keith and Cath Skuse’s garden to remain green and healthy during drought is far from revolutionary – they’ve been doing it for the past 33 years.
It’s only now, with tough Stage 3 water restrictions in force, that the neighbours are catching on.
Mrs Skuse said her husband had set up an elaborate network of four 210-litre pickle drums that caught rainwater from various downpipes.
The network uses anything from plastic soda bottles to old engine coolant containers to help catch and then store rain water.
When the Skuses have enough water, they bottle it and store it for future use, and allow the tanks to once again fill up.
“It’s all done with pickle drums and five-litre coolant bottles,” Mrs Skuse said.
“We’ve been doing it since 1974. What prompted us to do it was we were collecting rainwater off the roof for drinking water.
“We have a clear plastic roof and were told that if it gets too dirty it’s not good to drink from.
“So we thought right, if it is too dirty to drink off the plastic, we would connect all the drums up and use the water on our garden and pot plants.”
The Skuses estimate the pickle drum technique has saved them hundreds, if not thousands of litres of water a week – and allowed them to beat tight water restrictions.
Mrs Skuse said the couple used a pressure cleaner connected to the rainwater supply to clean their car, and only used half a bucket of water to get the job done effectively.
Their Burraneer Drive neighbours are catching on to the cheap technique that Mrs Skuse said cost only $200 to purchase as opposed to $3000 for a rainwater tank.
Springvale pickle drum supplier Redgum Firewood is astounded by the technique’s cult following, which has unexpectedly increased the sale of pickle drums.
Redgum Firewood’s Jess Pachi told Star that pickle drums were typically used by the wine industry, but his company was now selling about 10 drums a week to people constructing their own rain water network.
The popularity has made Mrs Skuse proud of husband Keith’s rainwater network.
“We’ve been married 39 years and I’m really proud of his invention,” she said.