IT DOESN’T ADD UP

Keith Honeyman must be highly commended for his enthusiasm in solving the water shortage with a 2 000 litre tank per household. Unfortunately, mathematics gets in the way of his neat solution.

Let’s reconsider the 898 221 million litres of quoted storage capacity. This is 898 221 000 000 litres in total.

Keith’s 500 000 × 2 000 litres is 1 000 000 000 litres, which actually only represents 0,11 per cent of the said storage capacity.

A further unfortunate fact is that a full 2 000 litre tank would last an average family around 10 days at best. Should there be no rain for this period or longer, such as during the summer months, the tanks would not be able to supply anything.

Notwithstanding the above, rain-water tanks are a fantastic way of capturing the free resource of rain, and being able to have an emergency supply. Every bit helps and can make life a little easier. MIKE RASH, HOWICK Please ignore my letter… My maths is nonsense!

Sincere apologies. KEITH HONEYMAN Hahaha… Actually, I shouldn’t be laughing: I should be fact checking. To be fair, Keith, your retraction/amendments landed in our inbox after we already sent the magazine to print. Luckily, there’s a brand new Makita tool on its way to you, so no hard feelings? Well- spotted, Mike – maybe I should start a fund for whenever we get our maths wrong? Can anyone suggest a worthy charity to which we can send the inevitable penalty fees? – Lindsey