Key NSW Election Theme 3: Water

From talking to many people from my local area, the issue that seems to be on the minds of all of them, above any other issue it seems, is the current water crisis. Well I don't blame them for being concerned when you consider the following graph and statistics from iliveinsydney.com.

Graph 1 - Dam capacity since 2002

Graph 2: Dam capacity for January 2007

• Sydneys current water storage is less than 36% capacity (as seen in above graph).
• At the overall rate of water loss in the past week in the dams, our supply will last 474 days, less than 2 years and run out on 2008-5-6 .

And this is all after a reasonably wet Christmas! If the above information doesn't scare you to bits than I do not know what will. I have heard a rumour (would be nice if someone could confirm) that if water storage falls below 20% then evacuation procedures need to be set in place for the city.

Salt Water has turned this Government Crazy

Something needs to be done. So what is our Labor Government doing to prevent this imminent disaster less than two years away? Very little it seems. To solve the water crisis the NSW State Government proposed a desalination plant that would suck water out of the ocean, take away the salt to make it drinkable. It has been rejected as stupid idea by the public and is a vote loser for the NSW Labor Government. Further, the NSW Labor Government’s plans to squander $1.4 million dollars of taxpayers money on advertising its energy guzzling desalination plant. What an appalling indictment of its incompetence on water issues!

This issue is obviously linked to climate change where weather patterns are changing. Indeed, NSW is moving more towards a desert weather climate it seems. Not only that but a 500 million litre desalination plant would emit greenhouse gasses as much as 1.25 million tonnes, or the same as 250,000 new cars on Sydney’s roads each year. The Labor Premier's response has been that the power used by the plant would come from Green energy. I am sorry Morris but Green energy should be being used to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, not to merely offset a greenhouse belching desalination plant.

The obvious and sensible Greens alternative: Recycling

Desalination has been rejected by the public because they know that a more sensible solution is viable given political will: recycling. the Greens have been championing recycling and re-use for Sydney.Figures given to the Government in 2004 showed water saving initiatives would save 58 billion litres of water a year by 2029 – more than a desalination plant creates.

The $2 billion cost of a desalination plant could be used to fund rebates for households to install greywater (from showers, laundry etc.) recycling units, saving a family of 4 more than 204,000 litres of water per year and hundreds of dollars in bills. Thats right, recycling would save family money, unlike a desalination plant that would cost family's more.

Finally, more resources for fixing leaks in Sydney’s water pipes would save 22 billion litres of water going to waste each year.

The Hawkesbury River An issue close to the heart of people in the Londonderry and Hawkesbury electorates is the state of our water supply coming from the Hawkesbury River. The Hawkesbury is the source of a large chunk of the districts water supply and yet the river is in my opinion slowly dying. The only thing that is keeping it alive is the fact that treated effluent is pumped into the river, thereby maintaining some sort of flow. For those who didn't just make that link, the Hawkesbury drinks water that is primarily treated sewage.

I have no problems with drinking recycled water as long as it is properly tested on a very regular basis. In addition, it is absolutely necessary that the Government do what it can to maintain the river and restore environmental flows. I both accounts the Government has failed. Consider the picture below from a few years ago:

Yes, that is not a football field, that is the Hawkesbury River covered in dangerous weeds. Because the river doesn't get enough normal environmental flows and gets a lot of nutrients from agricultural runoff, the river suffers from weed infestations. All the Government can do is pay for a harvester to chew up the weeds. Talk about a a band-aid solution! Perhaps Sydney Water could use some of its $250 million profit to find real solutions to this problem. This is where recycling of water from home tanks can be used to help fix the river. Less water would be taken out of the river thereby increasing natural flows.