Ludwig
When I said I agreed with you it was with your comment on water, not population growth. I am sorry for this missunderstanding, I should have been clearer.

As for population growth I can see both sides of the argument however I am all for population expansion it is just that our government has failed to cater for the growth. At least I draw comfort in knowing that I didn't vote for them.

As for water, perhaps the answer is in us recycling our own waste water in our own back yard.

I have access to an electronic water purifier in my shops for around $500 a pop and these provide around 300 Lt of purified water per hour.

So if I were to install a catchment tank in the back yard and one of these babies then maybe I can enjoy my longer showers again without being hastled by big brother.

“…I am all for population expansion…”

Well, it really does beg the question rehctub;

How can anyone possiblY not be against significant population growth in regions with critical basic resource problems, basic infrastructure problems and basic service shortfalls that are obviously due directly to population growth and piss-poor planning to keep these things up to the ever-increasing population??

and…

How can anyone who is concerned about this possibly be putting all of their energies into just one side of the equation? Don’t we all need to address both sides? Don’t we need to both look at ways of being more efficient with our water usage AND of reducing or at least stabilising the demand?

I can understand how someone might not be in favour of stopping pop growth tomorrow. But I can’t for the life of me understand how anyone could be against a strategic plan for SEQ that has limits to growth as one of its most fundamental principles, even if the limit isn’t achieved for a couple of decades, allowing for a doubling of the population.

But for anyone to support it just being open slather with no end in sight is totally perplexing…and highly undermining of, if not completely cancelling out of, any recycling efforts, tanks, desal, new dams, usage restrictions, etc….. and efforts to improve all sorts of other infrastructure and services.

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I’ve got a greywater system that takes all household water, cleans it and puts it out on the garden though a reticulation system. So I’m a little miffed at having to cop water restrictions along with everyone who just pours their greywater down the sewer.

For 20 years I’ve advocated a local plan that includes a limit to the size of Townsville, in just the same way as the plan for Magnetic Island, which has several residential areas and which comes under the Townsville City Council jurisdiction, has a population cap. So again, I’m just a tad miffed at having to cop restrictions along with everyone who just blithely condones the massive growth in demand for water.

A lot has been claimed about the Murray darling Basin from Marohasy’s claim back in May 2006:

“A commitment of $500 million from Australian tax payers, and 500 gigalitres of water for the environment is an enormous investment. I can only conclude that we are indeed a rich society if we can afford so much, for so little obvious environment gain - or hasn’t anyone realised that the Murray River has already been saved?”

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=4446&page=0

To claims that the drought experienced by Australia for over the past 10 years is a direct result of AGW.

Irrespective of whether AGW is directly or partially responsible, we urgently need to change how we farm.

The following is an extract from an excerpt of ‘Thirsty Country’ by Asa Walquist
http://asawahlquist.com/content/view/28/14/

“The head of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, Wendy Craik, warns "there is really no improvement in sight". Research by CSIRO scientists Wenju Cai and Tim Cowan has found that since 1950 Victoria has suffered a 40 per cent decline in autumn rainfall, compared with the long-term average. And that decline has been most severe in May. Cai says the decline "is not totally due to climate change, but it shows an imprint of climate change"….

….Rainfall has been this low in the past, but river flows were never as low as they have been over the past decade. As Craik puts it: "average rainfall no longer results in average inflow".


…. Wenju Cai has calculated that a one degree rise in temperature in the basin results in a 15 per cent reduction in river flow, or about 1850 GL less water in the river. The last three years in the basin were the warmest on record, with last year the warmest yet at 1.1ºC above average.”

Continued….

Continued….

” … The decline in autumn rainfall is critical to inflow because, as Cai explains, it wets the soil so that when the wettest time of the year arrives - winter and spring - the rain runs off the soaked soil and into the river….”

…..Victorian dairyfarmer Stephen Mills is chair of Irrigation Australia, a director of Murray-Goulburn Cooperative, and was recently appointed to the Victorian Government's Future of Farming Advisory Panel. He readily admits the reduction in rainfall is making it harder for farmers to remain productive and viable. "But I still think there is a lot of hope for the way that farmers approach their production systems. We will see enormous changes in the next decade or so. We have seen changes already that perhaps we haven't recognised."
Mills says dairy farmers are adopting new irrigation technologies "like sub-surface drip, and very fast flow surface flood irrigation, which are proving to provide very significant production increases, while maintaining very efficient water use". They are growing more lucerne, a deep-rooted crop that responds quickly to rainfall and needs less irrigation, and they have shifted their main irrigation season from spring to autumn…..

Mitchell argues it is important to manage on the assumption the downturn will continue. "If you are assuming that rainfall will return, you won't try and adapt to a drier climate and when you get hit by those dry years, it will impact your bottom line, you productivity and your system much more. Whereas if it gets wetter, the chance is you will get a bumper crop, but the other years you will be OK."”

I urge any who is genuinely interested and concerned to at the very least, to read the full article and consider obtaining a copy of the book – which will be available in libraries soon.

There is no single answer to saving water. A variety of strategies from catchment, recycling and population will be a part of the solution.

I think it's absurd that we are forced to carry buckets around the backyard while you can pour it down the sink for $1 per ton.

http://www.ozpolitic.com/sustainability-party/sustainability-party.html

Water-when are we going to stop wasting it? well I cam across a company named Waterwise System that install greywater systems and I got one installed last summer!! as I am trying to make the most of all my water usage at home. It has worked wonders and is a great way of re-using our greywater. This is there website: www.waterwisesystems.com I highly recommend them.