water restrictions?

[ving]

well with all teh rain sydney has been recieving the dam levels have raised to 505 (or so they say). now the PM wants to reconsider or revise the current level of water restrictions....

i personally think thats crazy talk. we have more water, what we have is not infinite regardless of how much goes in there! why decrease the restrictions?:mad2:

what do ya think?

[erick]

No question in Melbourne, we stay where we are. As I remember, the State govt has already "broken" the rules by not going to a stricter stage when it could have, but holding off for a couple more months, fingers collectively crossed. Last thing I heard was that the storage dams showed a rise by 0.1% lately, the first significant rise since Nov 2005!!

Disheartening interactive data. Plot 2005, 2006 and 2007:-

http://www.melbournewater.com.au/content/water/weekly_water_update/zoom_graph.asp

Best if we all stick by the rules, which were set in days when more rain fell than it seems to now, so the rules are probably not strict enough!!

[xelasnave]

Hard to keep pushing the desalinator barrow if the dam is full so lets empty it so the crisis justifies the purchase.

My water tank is full and I keep it that way.. simple I wonder if thrift can be applied on a greater scale for Sydney.... yes but we still need a desalinator.
alex

[hookedonsaturn]

Desalination,more dams,water pipelines or recycled water all make for wonderfull political talk.When you get to basics only so much area around the perimater of this country will support dense population.Untill the infrastructures are in place and water reserves high enough to hold usthrough a sustained drought the doors of the country should be closed to all immigration legal or illegal. Take care of your peoiple now before the lack of water becomes a do or die crisis

[OneOfOne]

I still don't understand why they lifted restrictions in Melbourne a couple of years ago just because the dams hit a threshold level. Of course, the following summer the dams fell again and have not recovered. Had the restrictions been kept a couple of years ago, we would have a couple of percent more than we have now. It may not be much, but when mud comes out of the tap, we may wish we did.

[mickoking]

I would have to question the wisdom of someone who suggests the end of water restrictions after a few days rain? The PM is obviously pushing a populist barrow. The facts are that we live on what could be described as a large desert island not in fertile Europe or SE Asia. We have to adjust our water usage accordingly.

[Lee]

Places like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have fresh water - no reason wy we can't..... Water restrictions to a degree should really be permanent (although it is nice not to have them - Newcastle), and we need a system of siphoning water from plentiful areas to drought.
What we really need is forethinking politicians who aren't afraid to spend a few bucks on securing our future, before it is truly critical.
What happens if a town of Brisbane's size runs out of water??? How much does it cost then? I think a billion or two on a pipeline/pumps etc would seem pretty cheap then!