gordon&laura

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6620919.stm


Thought this might interest some of you Perthy's..

Looks like we may have a bit of a problem on our hands!

Laura

Issie

Oh Dear !!!!

Not liking the drinking recycled water bit But will give it a go as i am sure it's probable the way forward in a lot of countries with drought problems.

worzel

The simple solution is to only drink beer.

But seriously, we don't have any water restrictions here. The east coast has very severe restrictions.

Hutch

Not all of the east coast. We haven't got restrictions here, haven't had any all summer. Grass is green, dams are full, and Sydney's merrily stealing the water out of our river.

bridie

Why?

If you're from the UK (which I assume you are..... sorry if not!) then you've probably been drinking recycled water for years anyway.

Personally I think they should just clamp down more on garden use - fed up of seeing people watering their lawns every day especially given the amount of rain we've had lately, it's so unnecessary and wasteful!

CadburysFingers

Here here. I feel like posting notes through all these morons doors, very annoying!!

northernbird

On my walk to school yesterday morning I saw 3 houses with their retic on. I felt like doing the same.

leigh&ivan

Especially when the retic is faulty & watering the road! I've seen loads like that.

stuckinblighty

I think you'll find lots of the drinking water in the UK is recycled.The water in london has been thru' something like 7 or 8 people already

Vash the Stampede

When I lived in Perth, we had severe water restrictions every summer. Households were permitted to water their gardens between certain times of the day, on certain days (determined by street number).

The penalty for breaching these restrictions was a $500 on the spot fine - and they weren't shy about dishing them out.

northernbird

that is still the case now Vash but all the tv commercials from the water corp are saying that you can now turn your retic off as the rain should provide adequate watering for your garden.

Vash the Stampede

Makes sense.

Issie

I didn't realise we did drink recycled water ( yes i live in the UK )....my mistake then !

Vegemite Kids

A lot less wasteful than seeing verge side watering at midday - 1pm.

Did you know that only 8% of Perth water is consumed by private houses? The remaining 92% is by "industry"


If the gov were really serious about water restriction they would
a) ban local councils from watering in the hottest part of the day
b) clampdown on industry, esp the big industrial consumers in Kwinana

but guess that wouldnt win them any "influencial" friends so the poor old homeowner gets yet more water restrictions (even tho its a drop in the ocean)

Vegemite Kids

The attached graphic demonstrates clearly that there has been no decline in rainfall which would imperil supplies to the point where we have to consider expensive desalination options. 2001 was only the 15th dryest year since records began in 1876. What has happened to cause our water shortage is that consumption is ever rising, catchments are being steadily degraded by scrub regrowth impairing runoff and we have been less than prudent over a decade or more in putting off projects that could have brought on new supplies from dams.

There was an average 880.3 mm of rain per year from 1876 to 1974 and 791.2 mm 1975 to 2003, a drop of 89.1 mm per year which equates to a 10.12% reduction in annual rainfall. I am still looking for the 20% they all keep talking about.

The UWA Water Resources people estimate that clearing the Gnangara pines over a decade with the resulting land being used for a mix of housing and native bush, there would be 130 extra GL of water per year. Think on that !!

We draw 150 GL of water per year from the Gnangara Mound, remember this equates to more than three times the proposed new Kwinana Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant.

The amount of water drawn by the Gnangara pines (45 GLpA) equates to the amount that WA Gov are currently talking about drawing from Yarragadee under the new proposals that are causing so much fuss. And the loss of 45 GLpA in the yarragadee would kill off a lot of native bush with a knock on effect to native wildlife.

More good info can be found here
http://www.viacorp.com/perth_water.htm