I completely agree.

I will probably get crucified for saying this. But maybe farming in drought restricted areas is also not a good idea in 2008!

I agree - it's nonsensical.

On a side-note, I was watching a BBC documentary called Britain from the Air in which they were discussing the use of satellites to map ancient lake-beds. They'd done this in Egypt and had discovered 100 years of water underground which they'd tapped into with over 500 wells. What happens when everyone's completely reliant on it and the water's gone?

It's one of those swings and roundabouts things - farms arent things that you can have and then not have for a while. With the population increasing beyond Australia's capacity to feed them or provide water we are in deep sh*t. There was an interesting article in The Australian about the water situation too.

Farmers are resilient and live with drought. They complain when it does not rain and complain when its too much.

The farming methods have changed now and the crops are strains that do not need as much water, also they do not clear plough the land now. Trees are being planted to take up the salt and I am optimistic about farming here.

We have had drought for 10 years in Melbourne, that is below average rainfall and we are on stage 3a restrictions and will be for another three years.

We have three rainwater tanks about 25000 litres for our garden.

The restrictions in Melbourne are:

" Last summer we received only 40 per cent of the average summer rainfall and stream flows into our major catchments were well below average. For this reason, the decision was made to move into the second phase of Stage 3 water restrictions – Stage 3a - to save water while minimising the impact on businesses and maintaining community sport.

Lawns

Lawns cannot be watered by residents, businesses and local councils. There are some exempt playing surfaces that can be watered.

Hand-held Trigger Hose

Hand-held hoses fitted with a trigger nozzle can be used to water gardens between 6am - 8am*.

Manual Dripper Systems

Manual dripper systems can be used between 6am - 8am*.

Automatic Dripper Systems

Automatic dripper systems can be used between midnight - 2am*.

* Even and no numbered properties can water on Saturday and Tuesday within specified times. Odd numbered properties can water plants on Sunday and Wednesday within specified times. There is no watering on Monday, Thursday and Friday.

Households with at least one resident aged 70 years or over may water their gardens manually on specified watering days between 6am - 8am or 8am - 10am.

Vehicle Washing

Hand-held hoses or high pressure cleaning devices cannot be used for vehicle washing, at any time. A bucket filled from a tap can be used to clean windows, mirrors and lights; and spot-remove corrosive substances. A commercial car wash can be used.

Pools and Spas
New pools or spas of any capacity cannot be filled. Before filling an existing pool or spa consult your water authority.

Penalties and Enforcement
Stage 3a water restrictions must be followed and water patrols are out in force across Melbourne. If you are issued with a warning notice and still breach the restrictions, you may have your water supply restricted or face prosecution."

So anyone who wants a pool think on. They fill them from groundwater but then you can't put the hose in to keep the level up and neighbours are spies.

We've put a huge(ish) tank in plumbed into the house and no longer use town water at all unless we run low which we haven't done except for one day. A small bit of roof is plumbed down to the pool by way of a diverter so if the pool is going down, we flick the switch and next time it rains it fills it up again. The one time we went back to town water we noticed the difference in smell, taste etc. We don't boil our tank water, it's fab as it is.

I object strongly to people putting in plants that aren't native and then they have to water continually with town water - what a piggin waste :curse:

Talking to a farmer on the weekend, at my daughters wedding, he reckons that if he gets rain up to mid september, he,s looking at a $700,000 dollar crop .
He farms 20,000 acres north of Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsular , farming Wheat, Barley, Lupin , .........apparently South Australia supples 60% of the worlds malting barley............mm

[QUOTE=sallyclaire;6734611]Out of interest, do houses have their own tanks?


My thoughts exactly.
Legislation should be introduced to make it a MUST to have water tanks incorporated in any new houses being buit!

[QUOTE=sj oldfield;6736724] I am so surprised that this is not so already. It is such a simple thing to do to ease the situation.

It used to be China

WW

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7577528.stm

good times, good times.

[QUOTE
Legislation should be introduced to make it a MUST to have water tanks incorporated in any new houses being buit![/QUOTE]

I was talking to an Australian friend the other day, who was telling me that in Brisbane in the '70's nearly all houses had water tanks, until a law was passed making the ownership of such tanks illegal (where mains water was available). Seems the water utilities were upset that they weren't making enough profit. My friend remembers people having secret 'illegal' tanks hidden underground in their back garden.

And just when you think it couldn't get any more ridiculous, I discovered this article, note that this was published in September and not on April 1st:

State govt could take over private water tanks: Hardgrave said: “A report in today’s Courier Mail outlines the fact that the Queensland government could very easily steal the water out of people’s water tanks because people have no legal ownership of the water that falls on the roofs of their houses and makes its way through the pipe systems that they have installed, albeit in some cases with subsidies from Queensland taxpayers and Brisbane City Council ratepayers. The Queensland government will put a meter on people’s water tanks and take control of those tanks. There is no legal impediment to stop that from occurring.”Reference: Gary Hardgrave, Federal Member for Moreton, Liberal Party of Australia, House of Representatives, Commonwealth, 15 August 2007.

I recall reading a similar thing here in WA 2 years ago. I can't remember where I saw it, but it stuck in my mind as absurd. It was along the lines of people who had water tanks would be taxed on the capacity of the tank, as the rain water was not rightly theirs. I haven't seen or heard anything since so it's probably dead in the water...excuse the pun.
However this being the tax capital of the world, I'm sure if the relevant bodies find a way, taxing collected rain water is only a matter of time.