Pollyana

Thats the issue, we need lots of the wet stuff. And then even more of it.

spouse of scouse

I know it's futile Polly, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a wet summer right around Oz. If I knew how to do a rain dance I'd even try that (what a sight that would be).

spouse of scouse

Meanwhile residents in Mount Tambourine Queensland, which doesn't have a reticulated water supply, are running out of water while water mining commercial operators take 2.5 million litres per week

The Tamborine Mountain state school has run out of water, even as water miners in the Gold Coast hinterland are sending millions of litres to commercial bottling operations.

Trucks sent by the Queensland government carrying emergency supplies to the school, including Mount Tamborine bottled water, have been passing trucks heading in the opposition direction taking local water to bottling plants for beverage giants such as Coca-Cola.

“The school bore has been operating since the school was there. There’s many other bores that have run dry. We are the largest community in Australia that doesn’t have reticulated water. If it doesn’t rain, people get water trucked in to fill their tanks.

“Now the government is buying water back from Coca-Cola to bring here, which is where it came from in the first place.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environm...orine-mountain

BEVS

Yes. I have not long read that. Unbelievable.

scrubbedexpat094

Good news for now. Stay safe.

Gordon Barlow

I don't know much about bores, but I'd have thought it would become obvious quite quickly if one were running dry! Also, I'd have thought it would be prudent for homes and schools to keep a couple of galvanised-iron tanks filled with water just in case... On our sheep farm on the Darling Downs in the '40s and '50s, we relied entirely on those tanks, and the school my brother and I went to a few miles away had a tank, too. Dad had a bore drilled in 1952, to 1200 feet, but the water was too brackish to drink (although the sheep drank it!), and too far from the house for us to use it. Even with the bore, we kept a couple of dams filled for the sheep - just in case...

A niece of mine lives at Beaudesert, quite close to Tamborine, so I'll ask her if she keeps a full tank in reserve.

Pollyana

Most homes in places like Tamborine rely on tank water, they have no mains supply. The tanks are generally filled by rainwater, but we have had no rain. Everyone's tanks are dry. To fill them with trucked in water costs a small fortune.
I have a work colleague in Beaudesert - she now showers at work every day instead of at home because they have no rainwater left in their 5 tanks, and are having to buy it in at a huge cost. Every drop is precious. Idoubt you will find many people in Queensland now who have a "full tank in reserve" - those tanks were used long ago.

moneypenny20

This. Not sure how we're supposed to keep our tanks full when the most rain we've had in the past six months is one hour's worth one evening last week and that was just a shower. The idea that the Government is happily selling off our desperately needed water to commercial bottling companies, mines etc is beyond horrific.

spouse of scouse

That's a bit of a 'let them eat cake' post, Gordon. The bores in schools and homes are drying up/have dried up due to the commercial water mining. The groundwater is running out, groundwater isn't a renewable resource when it's being removed in far greater volumes than can be replaced naturally. There's NO RAIN to fill people's water tanks, it's not a matter of them not being prudent or failing to plan, there just hasn't been the rain to fill them.

Gordon Barlow

Accusing me of jeering at the victims doesn't really add anything of value to the thread, Spouse.

Retirednow

Couldn’t get me back there in a pine box!

Pollyana

TBH nor does your post which suggests that people have been careless in not stockpiling water. With the fact that you keep telling us how you lived in Aus for years, I honesty thought you would be more clued up n drought situations.

Kim67

Had some lovely rain in SE Qld night before last, over 100mm in one hour. More to come this afternoon hopefully. I hope the whole country gets a good soaking soon.

scrubbedexpat094

Hope you get plenty more Kim.

Pollyana

Got 50mm here but the ground is so hard it had all run off by the morning.Lovely as it was, we still need much more more and there's no sign of that yet.