suzysu

For you guys who are currently living in Sydney I currently see two main problems :


1. The current water crisis

2. Number of People arriving in Sydney (about 1,000 a week)


Anyone been thinking about these ????

chocaholic

Hi, we've been in Sydney about a year. To answer your questions.

1. I do think the water shortages are worrying - but to start with we are not obsessed with having a really green front lawn. We use a third of the amount of water compared to the previous owners of our house, according to the water bill. When we visited country NSW toward Jindabyne - they were saying that they'd had a total water ban for 2 years - so I hope it doesn't get that bad.

2. I haven't noticed that there are 1000 arrivals each week in Sydney. It just depends where you live - Sydney is a huge sprawl, really.

Neither of these items affected our decision. We liked the city, some of the suburbs, beaches and national parks of Sydney and thought we would have a better chance of getting good jobs here.

soapy©

hope they dont all turn up to the expats meet next week

rapitts

Yeah I hope not !!!!


But I do think there is going to be a big water problem in Sydney after the summer, look at this and see why :

http://www.sydneywater.com.au/Public...strictions.pdf

soapy©

ah well, thats my plans for drowning the wife in the bath knackered

NickyC

The water levels are low right now, but they've been low before and they'll be low again. And in between those times we'll get rain and floods that'll fill up the dams. Water is not a new problem for Sydney, it's always like this and water restrictions are not uncommon. And don't forget that Sydney gets most of its rain in summer.

JAJ

Other points to note:

- a lot of Sydney's rain just falls on the coastal strip and not in the Blue Mountains where the dams and catchment areas are. My understanding is that rain in the mountains is less frequent but very intense when it does come.

- A specific problem that Sydney has with its dam is the over-reliance on one large dam (Warragamba) that supplies about 80% of Sydney's water. This dam seems to be conveniently located in the driest part of the region and if you believe Sydney Water it's hasn't rained in the area for years.

- A few years ago they spent about AUD150m protecting the Warragamba Dam against a flood by installing a new overflow channel. That sits rather forlorn at the moment with the dam levels so low, however when the rain does come the dam will rise rapidly.

- Most of Australia's water is used for industry and agriculture, not domestic purposes. In parts of NSW cotton and rice is grown using irrigated water. This is complete insanity on the driest continent - it would make a lot more sense just to import the rice from countries more suited to growing it (or grow it in northern Australia where there is plenty of water) and save the water for other uses in NSW and Victoria.

- Droughts and floods are normal events in Australia and the climate should not be viewed with European prejudices. When you listen to politicians like Mr Carr moaning about water shortages and drought you'd think it was the first time Australia had experienced something like this. The reality is that 'European' weather is the exception rather than the rule in most of Australia.

Jeremy

CPW

They're not quite right when they say that - a case of dramatic hyperbole, perhaps! Certainly though it has been very dry indeed in recent years.

In fact, the rainfall in the Blue Mountains is similar to that of coastal Sydney, although in times of 'normal' weather some of the precipitation occurs as mist or fog. However, the Warragamba Dam itself is certainly in a relatively dry area, being in the rain shadow of the Blue Mountains.

This is a big problem and one that successive governments in recent years have failed to address satisfactorily, partly no doubt because of the costs involved and partly no doubt because of fear of lobbying by local pressure groups and environmental activists. While it is true that, barring a calamitous change in climate, it will rain again in the "normal" way, it is also true that Sydney's population is continuing to expand and, moreover, that the average water consumption per head of population is increasing (water consumption here including commercial, industrial and agricultural uses as well as domestic uses - after all, it's all water).

Water supply is, in my view, a problem that is going to have to be faced very soon by the NSW government and the people of Sydney. Whether this involves new dams, recycling of waste water either for all uses or for some uses, desalination of the sea(!), piping water in from elsewhere, or a combination of some of these things is a different question.

As JAJ says too, Australia - not just Sydney - needs to re-think its use of water generally: and the practice of growing rice in semidesert conditions at places like Bourke is a good example.

rapitts

Climate change is happening and affecting Australia.

But I do worry that if the drought keeps going for another 6 months then Sydney is going to be in big trouble.

You would think that the goverment would invest in desalination plants which is what saudi araba does for water.

Well hopefully it will rain for a few days like it used to !!!!!!

chocaholic

Unfortunately Australia does not produce 8 million barrels of crude a day - to help finance such plants. Any idea how much that would cost?? Expensive, I bet.

soapy©

gedge

Yes, if only 8 million barrels of crude tv was worth the same as 8 million barrels of crude oil.

tonyk38

[QUOTE=rapitts
You would think that the goverment would invest in desalination plants which is what saudi araba does for water.[/QUOTE]

Saudi Arabia has no permanent rivers, lakes or surface water of any kind. So desalinisation plants are an only resort. And the water produced is so expensive it's practically worth it's weight in gold!

Los Ninos of recent years look set to exacerbate Aus's natural cycle of wets & droughts. Aus will have to start looking at long term practical solutions, not least water conservation by industry & agriculture.

I'm a Bill Mollison fan myself......