Was discussing this with the wife the other day. Her take on it is that other measures need to be implemented prior to building more infrastructure. For example we could make better use of the water we already have. Shes thinks recycling sewage, reducing leakage, and just reducing general usage would help and should be put into practice first.
I disagree.
We are already in crisis with huge chunks of the state drought declared and no respite in sight. Out in the bush a make farmer commits suicide every four days. They need hope and need it now.
Yes reducing water use and recycling would help… but that help would mainly aid the cities. Ok it would help the water flows in places like the Shoalhaven area, but it would have negligible impact on river systems like the Murray-Darling.
Recycling isn’t the solution to a dry continent. My suggestion would be pump brackish… non potable water… out to huge holding areas in the bush where it can be piped to the areas that need it either direct for irrigation, or for further processing to make it drinkable
Remember… these areas don’t *have* water to begin with so recycling is no use to them.
Running full time, large scale desalination plants at strategic places along the coast would be able to produce millions of litres of water at reasonable cost. And remember, one of the current costs is the loss of our farms and their primary production.
It’s a big idea and it needs someone of vision to pick it up, and run with it
The Eclectic Interweb 