How to raise more taxes.Make an abundant resource scarce.Charge more for less and stop other industries from competing;e.g.Stop private enterprise from reclycling waste water from our sewerage system.This Govt is not interested in spending on infrastructure,they have too many public servants to keep in their comfort zones.

Eric,
My point about the industrial chemicals was not the chemicals that are used in water purification, but all the chemicals such as pesticides and cleansers that legally or illegally end up in the sewers from households and industry. It is hard to see how they could be kept out. There are also the pharmaceuticals excreted in people's urine. Some of these chemicals are hormones or hormone mimics and can latch onto the receptors on the surfaces of cells. Depending on the fit the hormone mimics or endocrine disruptors can block the corresponding receptor and stop the natural hormone from latching on and doing its job or they can fool the cell into reacting as if the hormone were present when it isn't. Deformed fish and amphibians downstream from sewage plant outfalls are well attested, as are high cancer rates in cities such as New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi. Other people may be forced to take their chances with this due to past bad decisions, but it should certainly be avoided if possible.

There is no question that the folk at the top are better off now than 30 years ago, but I question whether it is generally true. I am old enough to remember. A secure job and affordable housing count for a lot. Ordinary families could get by on one income and be very comfortable on 1.5 incomes. Mothers could afford to stay home with their babies and toddlers. Crime rates were among the lowest in the Western world. Ordinary families could have a big garden where children could safely romp and play without constant adult supervision. Childhood obesity was relatively rare....

Divergence -

I understand your fears and I think most of the population shares them. My Mother-in-Law is fond of saying that she does not swim at the beach because "fishies turds are in there." I say "I've got bad news for you, there are fish in Warragamba Dam" (actually Lake Burragorang, the reservoir behind the dam, but you get the idea). She says "I don't want to know that." Not to scare you about Sydney's water, but although the Warragamba Catchment is mostly natural it has industrial, commercial and residential development and all that goes with that including a couple small sewage treatment plants.

I've been in the water business for a long time, so I guess I don't have the sensibilities of a normal person. All I can say is that we have had success getting the chemicals and cleaners out of drinking water overseas and the technology is not that unusual or sophisticated. I'm sure we could do it here. It is not even that expensive because the plant is tacked on to the normal sewage treatment plant that gets rid of the first 99% of the contaminants and the disinfection was already there as well.

In Israel and South Africa they mix the recycled water with the existing reservoir water or groundwater, so nobody thinks that somebody else is getting good water while they are drinking bad water. There was opposition at first, but as it has been used for a few years with no problems, it has gradually been accepted. Now they think of it as an environmental triumph.

I think it will be a difficult proposition to get it working in Australia. Where it has been used, water restrictions were very severe, so the recycled water made a fairly big difference to lifestyle. Plus the people were already paying a high price for water.

If the population in Australia stabilises we might not need it, but that seems like a tricky one as well, with the current government pushing hard for increasing the population.

up the price
blackwater for irrigation
greywater for cleaning
dam water for drinking
keep restrictions
We are a greedy wasteful bunch
Our forebears would kick our arses because of how wasteful we are.

I'm all for charging overusers like a wounded bull. But I would hate to see an across the board increase that disadvantages low income earners. How about a per person quota and above that gets a wopping huge bill? Maybe something ridiculous like $20 a litre.

Don’t know if this is worth doing – picking up on a long-dead line of comment. I guess it depends on whether those involved have still got active emails alerts.

It’s a good argument Andrew. But I would argue differently; we should have plenty of room to move with this most fundamental of resources. Yes, we could increase water rates a little – and this is probably a better idea than silly water restrictions, which in my town aren’t policed at more than a token level, unless neighbours dob each other in, and then they have to be caught ‘red-handed’. But I believe water has still got to be easily affordable and available at considerable quantity for all, including the lowest income-earners.

If it isn’t, then the first thing to do is to damn well stop increasing the demand! It is just incredibly stupid to continue increasing the demand on a resource that is struggling to meet existing demand, without increasing that resource. In ALL Australian capital cities and my town, this means mitigating population growth and industrial expansion. I am pleased that Divergence and Ericc touched on this issue.

Andrew, I also worry about one point you made – “Higher water prices have another advantage: they create incentives for the market to discover new ways of increasing supply.” This might be fine if those new ways are akin to better recycling, but with our still-entrenched economic-rationalist pro-expansionist paradigm, this is just as likely to mean new dams. I don’t want any more new dams thankyou very much. Enough is enough in that department.

And for as long as we have continuous expansion in the demand for water - better recycling, more efficient use and/or new dams are not likely to free up the resource for existing residents, they are only likely to cater for more people under the same restrictions.