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The Forum > General Discussion > Pumping water inland expensive

Pumping water inland expensive

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individual Not a problem, I think not.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-10/groundwater-bores-pulling-up-salt-water-off-kwinana-coast/10594444

Sea water sucked 1 kilometre inland as Kwinana bores placed under intense pressure

Groundwater bores are designed to draw fresh water out of the ground, but the pressure on bores has been so intense in some locations along Perth's south coast that the bores have begun pulling up salt water instead.

A Department of Water and Environmental Regulation report has found the amount of groundwater being extracted in the Kwinana industrial area was causing sea water from deeper underground to rise up and take its place.

Effectively it meant the sea water was being sucked back under the land, and once salt water moved into stores of fresh water the damage was difficult to reverse.

The department claimed the issue of sea water turning bores salty was the biggest problem facing groundwater users — residents, market gardeners and industry — along the coast.

Fresh water and sea water typically meet along the coast, with lighter fresh water sitting on top of a wedge of salt water. But in parts of the Kwinana industrial area that balance has changed, and the so-called "seawater interface" has pushed up to 1 kilometre inland.

Drawing more water from fewer freshwater bores not only increased the risk of more saltwater contamination, but also threatened to disturb decades-old contamination plumes laying dormant underground.

** More people in the area more underground water would be needed, and you want to bring in billion of liters of salt water ** Note last 2 paragraphs.
Posted by Philip S, Saturday, 22 December 2018 11:39:41 AM
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My my some of us seem to have the black dog living on their shoulder
We will do things like the Snowy river again
in fact it still is a Turnbull announced government backed plan to upgrade it even more
We are not up to our chin in unemployed bludgers, in fact unemployment is low
Governing is not just throwing money around we still have a deficit
Our future, after the coming financial crisis, is bright
We will pump water inland
Posted by Belly, Saturday, 22 December 2018 11:53:56 AM
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Indi (Joe),

I don't know what you're thinking?
The idea is to channel/divert abundant 'fresh water' from the North, possibly along the edge of our semi-arid WA interior (and perhaps underground). And, Foxy's link is very much worth a look here - subterranean diversion through the aquifer system 'the Great Artesian Basin'. What a ripper idea! How you add water to the basin I have no idea, but apparently it is being done! Whether you can put the water in right where (or near where) it is abundant, and it will work its own way from there I also don't know. But, most definitely worth investigating.
(And, let's not get carried away - Perth can look after itself - with desalination if necessary. Any southerly diversion could (and should) be in stages - let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.)

From Foxy's link: >>Australia has attributes that can make us a global leader in wise water management. To give just two examples: we have developed some of the world's most sophisticated modelling systems for measuring and predicting underground water resources which, when fully developed and tested, will provide the basis for effective decision making in future. And we are pioneers in the art of managed aquifer recharge - or water banking - in which water is stored underground during times of plenty and can be pumped up again in times of scarcity. These water banks have been tested around the continent in places such as the Bowen and Namoi basins (for agriculture) and in cities such as Adelaide and Perth (for horticulture and urban watering). They work.<<
>>Indeed, water expertise could be one of our most potent diplomatic and export initiatives in years to come (just as agricultural aid and trade have been in the past 60 years). All we need to do to achieve this is invest wisely in the necessary science, technology and management skills. Water science and training are not high-cost items, relative to other activities such as building huge dams or ports.<<
(TBCont'd)
Posted by Saltpetre, Saturday, 22 December 2018 1:12:37 PM
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Continued:

>>They represent a form of ''infrastructure'' that lasts for generations and only needs topping up, not repair. They pay off immediately in water savings. They provide essential insurance against drought, climate change, and the loss of water-dependent industries, towns and landscapes. They can reduce the economic and social costs of drought greatly.<<

>>In a dry land like Australia, we should be saving our water wisely for the future. Let's hear it for a National Water Bank.

Craig Simmons is professor of hydro-geology at Flinders University and director, National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training.<<

Me now:
As for the cost (of channels or piping, if necessary), where's the good old Aussie 'can-do' attitude! If we go get-tum, as our pioneers have done so often in our recent history, we can do, and should do. Can't you just see some hundreds of kilometers of solar-powered hydroponics greenhouses stringing like the drover's dog all the way from Kununurra to Broome, to Derby and eventually to Carnarvon (or beyond).

In future years, the food producing capacities of such a certainly ambitious project/investment would hold Aus in good stead for our ultimately burgeoning population - and the employment in getting there, and on-going, would be a massive boost to our national productivity, resilience and security.
So, what are we waiting for? Do we really need more expressways, more high-rises and more congestion in our already established major cities?
Or, the world as our productive and visionary oyster!

And, relatively minor as it may well be (and I think it's grossly underestimated) we should not forget the greenhouse gas capture, climate mitigation, potentials of this project. (Looking, Scomo?)

No more BS from our fearless pollies, let's see them do something right (and necessary) for a most welcome change.

C'mon Scomo! Show us what you're really made of! (Cause so far you are making a right muck of it. Though it's good you visited the troops and wished them a safe and reasonably Merry Christmas.)
Posted by Saltpetre, Saturday, 22 December 2018 1:12:42 PM
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The same thing happened in Bundaberg Phillip S They lost the use of many near coastal bores due to over extraction. I don't know if the last very big flood up there would have fixed any of them.

Belly it is possible that something might be found to profitable use a million gallons of fresh water a month, but it will not be to support one cow grazing. It would cost more a fortnight than the animal was worth. It is just not viable.

It may not be fun, but you have to sit down & do some simple math before you are entitled to give fearless forecasts, which have no basis in real life.

When my little river has a fresh in it, it is 25 metres deep by 160 metres wide. When in flood add another 250 metres wide by 7 metres deep, traveling at 15+ kilometres down stream.

That is a huge amount of water, & this little river would need a 35 meter diameter pipe to pump it up to the Darling downs. The problem is that it has gone out to sea in a couple of days.

To hold this much water, & pump it over many weeks you would have to dam the entire Moreton bay, to manage it & the other rivers, not counting the Brisbane river, as there are no dam sights on this or any coastal plane. I very much doubt the Port Authority or the people of Brisbane would agree to this, although it would cure the bull shark problem for them.
Posted by Hasbeen, Saturday, 22 December 2018 1:28:02 PM
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Ok, I'll try again; In order to get water precipitation is needed. To get precipitation, evaporation is needed. How do you get evaporation ? You first set up a huge body of water i.e. Lake Eyre & presto, you have (a natural phenomenon) evaporation. Step two (also a natural phenomenon) you get precipitation & presto, you have water saturating & filtering into the ground where it then gradually displaces saltwater. Eventually (sorry greedy investors, not instantly) there will be a change in that area's weather pattern & this change will be increased humidity.
The only hurdle is stupidity which is also a natural phenomenon & which includes another stumbling block, greed. My guess is that it'd take about three seasons to see a positive effect.
They fill abandoned mines & quarries with waste etc instead of letting them fill with water to increase evaporation. Oh, yes and, greens, don't worry about those animals drowning because unlike you they have an instinct to crawl to higher ground once their butts get wet.
Posted by individual, Saturday, 22 December 2018 1:41:07 PM
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