I was looking at getting a water tank installed prior to Summer due to water restrictions and my dead lawn.

With the government now deciding on desalination plants and the water crisis might be soon over do you think e will have long term water restrictions?

I surely miss giving the car a good hose down and the kids would love to run through a sprinkler!

Rain water tanks in the future as long as they are maintained,placed/installed well will add value to your home also the water will come in handy.

" I surely miss giving the car a good hose down and the kids would love to run through a sprinkler!"

You will never be able to do that again. Of course we still need water tanks, go and look at the dams and you will see how empty they are. We are in a drought !!! We need more rain than we have had to make up for the ten years of minimal rain.
A dead lawn should be the least of your problems. Look into planting Matilda soft leaf buffalo grass. It is drought tolerant, a lush green and does well in 80% shade. I have a patch on the front of my house and its the envy of the neighbourhood, people can't believe I don't water it. Only when it was first planted it needed some tank water to establish properly

The freedom to expand your garden and do other things would definitely make the tanks worthwhile!

Get a water tank, Fill up buckets from your bath/shower and especially out of your washing machine (as that usually uses the most water), and water your lawns! I don't think we will ever see our dams at the capacity they were 10 years ago! Not in our lifetimes anyway.

A great way to use the water from your washing machine is to connect your garden hose to the outlet of your washing machine, and when the washing machine starts to expel the water, race outside and run the water over your lawn!

When I first went to Europe in the 80s, I was amazed at how water efficient they were and they weren't in any drought ! They were brought up to only use the water that they needed, not to turn sprinklers on for hours , and to get under the shower and forget yourself. Australians have to be the most wasteful when it comes to water usage and we are now paying the price ! Of course governments are partly to blame because we needed to be educated a long time ago. Better late than never, but it's also too little too late.

I don't think it's too late, but industry needs to try as hard as individuals. Industry should pay more for water or use water that is not drinking quality when possible.

Now more than ever you will wish you had water tanks - 4 days of 40 degrees, your garden will die without water.

A bit of planning ahead and installing a tank or two will give you years of enjoyment of your garden and improve your sale price if you want to move - do you need any more reasons?