Water in Queensland, or the wider Australian nation, is a sensitive topic. Despite all the other riches in this country, despite the brash national self confidence, despite this state's drive to get another million people to immigrate within the next twenty years, water is about the only thing this place is lacking.
Brisbane, a city of one and a half million people, is in the middle of a drought situation, with serious water restrictions in place - you are not allowed to water outside with hoses and sprinklers, buckets only. Swimming pools however, are exempt, because if too much evaporation took place, the filters would stop cleaning the water, allowing them to become great mosquito breeding pits.
And the restrictions are likely to become more severe in a month or two's time, if the dam levels continue the way they have been - swimming pools may get mandatory covers, to lessen evaporation, and goodness knows how outside watering will be cut further back. The gardening, sprinkler and irrigation industries are already massively affected by the restrictions.
The Gold Coast's dam is full to the brim, and there was a weekend a few months back where the Gold Coasters could water outside to their hearts' content - it didn't come across as the best of public relation exercises to the rest of the South East, and I don't think it has yet been repeated. There was also discussion of an exemption for the watering restrictions for the over-70s - not sure whether that went through or not, but it just appeared to me as if no one else cares for gardens or anything apart from the elderly.
The State Government and the councils have been arguing back and forth about whose responsibility it is as to who has stuffed up water policy the last two decades or so, but nothing seems to be being done. The state government started advertising the last week or so in the newspapers about this new water grid plan they have got - my thinking is that the water crisis has been with us for at least a year, and only now are some plans being written up?
And the Premier has had his 'oh woe is me' look on his face the last couple of weeks, seeming to blame the councils for not doing anything, while still not declaring a state of emergency with the water supplies. And Beattie has taken on the ministerial water portfolio, and there is suddenly talk that the state may have an election sooner rather than later, spurred on by this water situation.
Oh, and Toowoomba had a referendum a couple of weekends ago, to ask whether recycled waste water should be mixed in with the drinking supply. The town voted 61% to reject the proposal, even though the recycled water would be put through more filters than the normal tap supply, seemingly spurred on by the no campaign talking about falling house prices if recycled sewage was used for drinking. The next day, greater restrictions were put on Toowoomba's water usage.
A loaded phrase, either calling it recycled waste water or recycled sewage - and the Premier is promising a referendum in the South East about it, but not until 2008 - what will the lake levels look like then, I wonder? And all the politicians, state and federal, kept ducking supporting the yes campaign in Toowoomba, the town mayor was left out to dry by herself it seemed.
Not to mention that 98% of rural New South Wales is in drought conditions.
The Toowoomba voter decision seemed to me to indicate that it is alright for our water to be pure and untainted by waste water (and you can't tell me that water as it is in the dams is all pure and clean anyways) and house prices won't fall, but in five to ten years when south east Queensland is a desert, will we be worrying about house prices then? Apart from where two million people will be moving to of course.
Oh, and not water related, but very nimbyish - there are scheduled to be another million people living in the south east corner of the state in the next twenty years. Dependent on water of course. One of the levels of government, state I think, proposed putting a new subdivision of ten thousand homes out at Wacol - the locals were on the television saying they would prefer the area to remain green space. Umm, duh - where is everyone else supposed to live if you have your green space?
I do agree with them about the state of the roads out to Ipswich though, they are a nightmare already. But the tunnel underneath the Story Bridge will sort all the traffic out - or should we spend on water infrastructure and new dams? And will there be cars as we know them in twenty years time, what with the price of petrol - or will the airports, to take another petrol related example, continue to expand at speed?
If only there was a Sim City sandbox mode for the real world :P
Paul
Brisbane, a city of one and a half million people, is in the middle of a drought situation, with serious water restrictions in place - you are not allowed to water outside with hoses and sprinklers, buckets only. Swimming pools however, are exempt, because if too much evaporation took place, the filters would stop cleaning the water, allowing them to become great mosquito breeding pits.
And the restrictions are likely to become more severe in a month or two's time, if the dam levels continue the way they have been - swimming pools may get mandatory covers, to lessen evaporation, and goodness knows how outside watering will be cut further back. The gardening, sprinkler and irrigation industries are already massively affected by the restrictions.
The Gold Coast's dam is full to the brim, and there was a weekend a few months back where the Gold Coasters could water outside to their hearts' content - it didn't come across as the best of public relation exercises to the rest of the South East, and I don't think it has yet been repeated. There was also discussion of an exemption for the watering restrictions for the over-70s - not sure whether that went through or not, but it just appeared to me as if no one else cares for gardens or anything apart from the elderly.
The State Government and the councils have been arguing back and forth about whose responsibility it is as to who has stuffed up water policy the last two decades or so, but nothing seems to be being done. The state government started advertising the last week or so in the newspapers about this new water grid plan they have got - my thinking is that the water crisis has been with us for at least a year, and only now are some plans being written up?
And the Premier has had his 'oh woe is me' look on his face the last couple of weeks, seeming to blame the councils for not doing anything, while still not declaring a state of emergency with the water supplies. And Beattie has taken on the ministerial water portfolio, and there is suddenly talk that the state may have an election sooner rather than later, spurred on by this water situation.
Oh, and Toowoomba had a referendum a couple of weekends ago, to ask whether recycled waste water should be mixed in with the drinking supply. The town voted 61% to reject the proposal, even though the recycled water would be put through more filters than the normal tap supply, seemingly spurred on by the no campaign talking about falling house prices if recycled sewage was used for drinking. The next day, greater restrictions were put on Toowoomba's water usage.
A loaded phrase, either calling it recycled waste water or recycled sewage - and the Premier is promising a referendum in the South East about it, but not until 2008 - what will the lake levels look like then, I wonder? And all the politicians, state and federal, kept ducking supporting the yes campaign in Toowoomba, the town mayor was left out to dry by herself it seemed.
Not to mention that 98% of rural New South Wales is in drought conditions.
The Toowoomba voter decision seemed to me to indicate that it is alright for our water to be pure and untainted by waste water (and you can't tell me that water as it is in the dams is all pure and clean anyways) and house prices won't fall, but in five to ten years when south east Queensland is a desert, will we be worrying about house prices then? Apart from where two million people will be moving to of course.
Oh, and not water related, but very nimbyish - there are scheduled to be another million people living in the south east corner of the state in the next twenty years. Dependent on water of course. One of the levels of government, state I think, proposed putting a new subdivision of ten thousand homes out at Wacol - the locals were on the television saying they would prefer the area to remain green space. Umm, duh - where is everyone else supposed to live if you have your green space?
I do agree with them about the state of the roads out to Ipswich though, they are a nightmare already. But the tunnel underneath the Story Bridge will sort all the traffic out - or should we spend on water infrastructure and new dams? And will there be cars as we know them in twenty years time, what with the price of petrol - or will the airports, to take another petrol related example, continue to expand at speed?
If only there was a Sim City sandbox mode for the real world :P
Paul
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