We all know that water is one of, if not the most, valuable commodities we have yet, we only use it once while millions of litres per day goes down the drain and we can’t even have a decent shower.

As a butcher, working most days for 10 to 12 hours, I can’t have a decent shower in 4 minutes and why should I be forced to. I have paid my rates for 30 years, it’s not my fault our governments have miss managed our monies.

Morton shire along dumps up to 87 million litres per day and this is water that has been treated to ‘A’ class standard drinking water, re-treated to ‘safe levels’ after being used by households, and then dumped.

The solution is simple, RECYCLE!

You see the anti re-cycle lobby runs a very good scare campaign saying that if we recycle we are drinking our own sewage yet, we consume less than 2% of the water used per household per day. Even before the recent lifting of the restrictions I know very few people who consume in excess of two litres each per day straight from the tap.

Do people realise that of the 62,000 litres they use each year, (170litres per day), more than 60,000 litres of this is dumped.

That’s staggering.

On the other hand, if we re-direct this re-treated water back to the dams to be
Re-treated again then we can all get back to life as we knew it and for those of the minority who like to drink their 2 litres plus per day, they can either boil it first, buy a steriliser, or buy drinking water if they deem it to be un-safe to drink straight from the tap.

I say let’s have a ‘national’ referendum on the matter or, find a government that has the balls to make the decision and just do it.

Another option is stormwater harvesting, but this is a whole new topic.

Either way we must do something to stop this wasting of our precious asset

Rehctub, my first thought is; how can anyone living in southeast Queensland possibly express concerns about water without being worried about the rapid and ever-increasing number of consumers moving into your region, in the face of an already critically stressed basic resource??

The demand side of the equation is just as important as the supply side.

Yes of course we should be recycling and just being more frugal and efficient with overall usage.

But at the moment, all efforts to do this are really just doing to one thing; allowing more people to be squeezed in to the region.

It is one of the most extraordinary phenomena that I have ever encountered; the absolutely untempered rate of population growth into an area with critical water-supply issues, with practically no concern being shown form anyone - not the state government, local councils or more than a handful of citizens.

We live in the country and therefore have several rain water storage tanks, adequate for most seasons. It is only in a drought situation that we must buy tankers of water from our shire council. As a result of a recent shire amalgamation it has been decided that country people must now pay a 400 percent increase in the cost to buy 'town' water. A furore erupted and it was decided that the percentage increase would be brought in over 4 years, thus only increasing our costs by 100 percent in the first year. There will be increased fuel costs added to the costs of transporting that water. I know everyone should be paying more for water, but what would the greater number of urban dwellers say if they were hit with such increased costs?

Ludwig,
I don't know if you should read Paul Sheenan in todays SMH. http://www.smh.com.au/news/paul-sheehan/the-challenge-of-migration/2008/08/03/1217701846375.html

It won't please you. Makes me wonder how politicians think or where they get advice from.

As a side issue in a letter in the SMH a reader said a burst water main near their house is now being repaired after it was reported to Sydney Water 70 hours before. Apparently two crews came out to inspect and required specialist equipment which had to be obtained . That turned out to be a crow bar and a sledge hammer. Wonder if the need for a shovel or shifting spanner will hold repairs up again? The situation is almost laughable except they continue to talk about puting water rates up

I think everyone should read this:
1. http://www.naturalnews.com/023413.html
2. http://www.naturalnews.com/023412.html

as this applies to Australian aquifers as well which happen to be drained by the likes of bottlers and water rapists.

Logically, if you drop an underground water source, rivers will dry up.The likes of Coca-cola need to stop getting cheap water from below.
India has banned CC out of the country because of this, besides drinking CC and Pepsi is bad for you anyhow!

Fresh water is not particularly valuable. It can be created from salt water for between $1 and $2 per tonne. Few commodities are that cheap.

Recycling costs money as well. If the water is not recycled to drinking water standard, then using it (other than for limited localised industrial purposes) involves a separate distribution network with a huge capital cost. Recycling to drinking water standard and then returning it to the dams involves a huge pipe line which also costs money. Recycling to drinking water standard and then feeding it directly into the drinking water supply is politically difficult, particularly at the concentrations needed to make it worth the effort.

Country Girl

If the council allows you to have your own storage and gives you the entitlement to buy water from the council during droughts, then it has to recoup from you an amount of money that fairly represents the cost to the community of having reservoir capacity to meet your needs at those times. This can be done either by imposing a levy on you at all times, regardless of whether you're taking water, or by making the water that you do take expensive by comparison with the the price of water to the urban users. To do otherwise is to let you free load off the rest of the community. I infer that the council has determined that you're not making a fair contribution at the old price.

You ask how urban users would react to such price rise, but the situation cannot arise, because they don't take water only during droughts.