Is the water system ready for summer?

This guide is for the volunteers who look after a club's tanks and irrigation, before the heat arrives.

The six checks are:

How clubs do it

1. Tank screens: no gaps a mosquito could get through on the inlet, outlet and overflow; clear the leaves.
2. The pump: a pump that will not deliver water may have lost its prime over winter (the water it needs inside before it can pump). The maker's instructions show how to re-prime it; for Onga pumps there is a priming procedure and a troubleshooting table.
3. Filters: a blocked filter shows up as poor pressure, or "blind" nozzles on the court.
4. Sprinkler heads: a slow walk across the courts shows any head that is blocked or pointing the wrong way.
5. The controller: rain-skip and weather-adjust features are often installed but left switched off.
6. Restrictions: the club's water provider can say how they apply to the courts.

The Smart Approved WaterMark factsheet has a fuller tank checklist.

Mosquito screens

The Public Health Regulation 2018 (whole Regulation) says each opening of a rainwater tank has a screen or flap valve that stops mosquitoes. Screens are brass, copper, aluminium or stainless steel gauze, with a mesh of 1mm or less. A screen comes off only for maintenance and goes back straight after. Councils enforce these rules.

Queensland Health has a rainwater tanks factsheet.

Water restrictions and croquet courts

The Water Restrictions Schedules apply only in South East Queensland, and only once a water provider sets a level.

South East Queensland's water restrictions call a croquet court an "active playing surface". That is the restrictions' name for a sports surface such as a croquet green.

At Medium level, sprinklers on the lawns and gardens around the court are limited to set days and hours. Whether a published Active Playing Surface Guideline exists for the High and Severe levels is not clear, so the water provider is the one to ask.

The Schedules cover town water from the Seqwater supply. Under item 4.1, town water cannot be used to top up a rainwater tank, except through a trickle top-up system installed by a licensed plumber. In a trickle top-up system, a float valve lets a little town water into the tank when it runs low. A rainwater tank topped up from town water that way follows the same rules.

On 30 October 2026 no restrictions were in place in South East Queensland. The dams were at about 82%. Seqwater says "water restrictions will be considered when the combined level of SEQ Water Grid dams reaches 50%". Dam levels are on the Seqwater website.

Restrictions differ by council and change often, so each council's water restrictions page is the place to check. Wasting water, including an overflowing tank, is banned at every level.

A Queensland Government factsheet says registration, a separate meter, records and signs are commonly required for watering a playing surface.

Who to ask: in South East Queensland, the water provider (Urban Utilities, Unitywater, or the Gold Coast, Logan or Redland council). Elsewhere, the Queensland Government says to contact the local council.

Outside South East Queensland, councils set their own rules; Mackay, Fraser Coast and Toowoomba each do. Mackay's policy counts a "croquet green" as an "active playing surface". Each council's rules differ, and a club's own council is the one that counts.

Another ClubHub guide sets out each council's rules, with sources. You can read more in What are the rules for watering our lawn?

The law in detail

The Water Restrictions Schedules leave one kind of tank out of the town water supply. It is a rainwater tank connected to a house through an automatic switching valve, a valve that keeps the toilets, the washing machine cold tap or similar fixtures supplied. The rainwater must come straight from the tank.

If the club is adding a tank

Under the Building Regulation 2021 (whole Regulation), sch.1 s.13, a rainwater tank needs no building approval if it covers no more than 10m² of ground, is no more than 2.4m high, and has no side longer than 5m. That does not apply to a tank in Wind Region C (tropical cyclone area), or to a rainwater tank for a new building.

Business Queensland says Wind Region C "covers the immediate coastal areas continuous from Bundaberg to the Queensland–Northern Territory border". Business Queensland recommends checking with the council about any local requirements.

For an existing building with a tank connected for indoor use, Business Queensland says the plumber must lodge a Form 4 (Notifiable work), the form that reports the plumbing job. A Form 4 is not required for a tank for outdoor use only.

The Queensland Plumbing and Wastewater Code says a backflow device protects the town water supply by stopping tank water flowing back into it. The provider or council may need to approve the connection.

Look after yourself

The Queensland Government says ladder injuries among men aged 65 and over are rising. It says more than 1,000 Queenslanders go to hospital each year after a ladder fall. It suggests first thinking of other ways to get a job done before climbing, and that applies to checking a tank top.

Queensland Health says people working outdoors in heat need regular breaks, shade and drinking water.

If the water rules here are wrong for your club, or your club holds a permit or water plan, please tell us at hello@croquetqld.org and we will check and fix it.

Next: Lawn care through the year.

Where this comes from

1. Public Health Regulation 2018 (Qld), s.18 (screens), s.19 (removing screens), s.16 (councils enforce); whole Regulation
2. Queensland Health, Rainwater tanks factsheet
3. Water Restrictions Schedules, items 1.1, 1.3, 1.6 and 4.1
4. Queensland Government, Active playing surfaces factsheet
5. Queensland Government, Water restrictions
6. Seqwater, Water saving advice and Dam levels (read 30 October 2026)
7. What are the rules for watering our lawn? (ClubHub guide): each council's rules, with sources
8. Building Regulation 2021 (Qld), sch.1 s.13; whole Regulation; Business Queensland, Supplementary water systems
9. Queensland Plumbing and Wastewater Code, Part B1.4
10. Queensland Government, Ladder safety; Queensland Health, People at risk of heat-related health problems
11. Mackay Regional Council, Water restrictions policy