Water, Water Every Where But Not A Drop To Drink

Each year summer is hotter, dryer and its taking its toll on the country.

So what do we do about it?

Federal Government managment of our water resources?
Deslaination Plant?
Recycled water? , well lets be 100% clear about this one and call it what it truley is TREATED SEWERAGE, mmmm yummy.

RECYCLED WATER, sounds pretty benign but is there truth in the name? when some one says to me recycled water i think water tank or artisian bore, eg recycled rain water. so why dont politicians and media call it what it really is after all in Australia we have a proud tradition of calling a spade, a spade dont we? so why is it so difficault to call this what it really is "TREATED SEWARAGE"?, Queensland labour premier Peter Beattie declaims that there is no alternative yet i didnt see him lining up to connect his house up to receiving treated sewarage. If politicians want to advocate this approach then they should be the first to have it.


DESALINATION, personally i think this is the better solution out of a list of bad ones, basically turning seawater into water usable by people, i cant begin to imagine how it will taste but it has to be better than drinking someones urine or feces dont you think? The problem with this approach is the Plant itself and where its going to be located and the amount of disruption caused in certain areas.
A 125-megalitre a day desalination plant will be built at Kurnell in southern Sydney if the NSW Labor Government is re-elected in March.
Premier Morris Iemma today announced two preferred consortia had been asked to tender for the construction of the plant, which will be built if dam levels drop to 30 per cent. (SMH)
However not everyone is convinced about such a move with Mr Debnam saying the groups are concerned about the impact of water out of the plant, connecting pipeline and how it would be powered.
"There are a lot of questions yet to be answered both about the local impact and about the impact of this particular project on Sydney's water supply and water future," he said.
Bob Walsh, from the Sutherland Shire Environment Centre, says the proposal is being rushed.
"The whole subject is fraud with unanswered questions," he said.
"The questions keep multiplying but the answers are never given."
Independent Sutherland Shire Councillor Lorraine Kelly also says they need more answers.
"I think one of the major queries we get is marine life, the ecological studies, things like this," she said.
"We have beautiful beaches out here and I think we need to protect them and that's probably the question on everyone's mind, is what's going to happen to the marine environment?"
Miranda is seen as one of Labor's most marginal seats and the Opposition expects the issue will help regain it at the state election in March.(ABC)

FEDRAL GOVERNMENTS PLAN, The Howard Government wants to take control of the basin's waterways, and to do that, it has to convince the States to sign over their constitutional rights over rivers.
New South Wales has agreed but the other States aren't enamoured with the idea.
Like a hangman's noose, the worst drought since Federation has focused the minds of the nation's leaders on water, and there's a clear political imperative. They are worried about water because the lack of it worries their constituents.
New South Wales is in the middle of an election campaign and a recent Newspoll shows 90 per cent of voters rated the water crisis among their top concerns.
That might explain why Premier Morris Iemma is showing more enthusiasm than most to sign up to the Federal Government's $10 billion water security plan.
He's said he is happy to hand over his State's constitutional rights over rivers and let his officials tidy up the loose ends.
MORRIS IEMMA: We're putting together a paper for the Prime Minster on issues that we want addressed.
The Commonwealth's plan is ambitious but it lacks crucial detail according to the Premiers of South Australia, Victoria and Queensland.
South Australian Premier Mike Rann has led the charge through what he sees as gaping holes in the plan.
MIKE RANN: For us as the downstream State, we're obviously very concerned about issues such as minimum entitlement flow.
Under current agreements South Australia has a minimum entitlement flow. That isn't mentioned in the material sent to me by the Prime Minister.
After showing initial enthusiasm, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has become more cautious about the Commonwealth's proposal. Earlier this week he flew to Brisbane to hammer out a united front with his Queensland counterpart, Peter Beattie.
STEVE BRACKS: For example, we don't know yet, in the Goulburn, which feeds into the Murray, with Swan Hill, Mildura, a whole range of cities and towns, whether those urban water supplies will be a part of the system? We need answers to that.
PETER BEATTIE: Will there be compulsory acquisition? If so, how long will it take before irrigators have some certainty? What will the water sharing agreements be? Is there a plan for environmental flows? Will it impact on property sales?
The Premiers' concerns mirror doubts raised in a confidential document written by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission executive team. It highlights a series of major and minor flaws in the plan.
Federal Shadow Minister for Water, Anthony Albanese, says the plan is flawed because it was cobbled together in the Prime Minister's office without reference to key departments.
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well the exclusion of key departments and agencies in the rush development of this proposal has led to an extraordinary lack of detail in funding, timelines and management arrangements.
The Prime Minister's office has dismissed the claim, saying all relevant departments were consulted and the plan is fully costed.
But the commission's paper raises issues that must be addressed and which will take much longer than a day to resolve. Like who will own the assets built by States? What happens if States withdraw the millions they currently spend on rivers and who will be responsible for the management of natural resources?
And Mike Rann is not letting go of his idea that the whole system would work better if it was run by an independent authority.
MIKE RANN: Let's set up a truly independent Murray-Darling Commission, which has got independent experts, that the Commonwealth and the States should agree on, that they are non partisan people, enjoying bipartisan support that can make those day-to-day decisions in terms of the management of the River Murray. (ABC)