A better solution for water

Here is a copy of our domestic water bill for 2 February 2010.

We have 23,000 litres of water tanks in Surrey Hills and are almost completely self-sufficient for water - as you can see by the information on this bill, including:

• 4 litres per person per day for November to Jan 2010 (compared with the government target of 155)
• 0 liters per person per day over the periods may to October 2009.

Yet the Victorian Minister Tim Holding has stated that "water tanks are not an effective solution" and Premier John Brumby as stated that "water tanks would have higher carbon emissions than the desalination plant".  

Neither have responded to my letters informing them that they are wrong on both counts - despite me providing evidence that proves my point.

The Brumby government panicked during 2008-2009 when the drought was severe, and threw 10 years of water strategy and community consultation focused on recycling water and conserving it in the bin.

Instead the Brumby government has:

• Built the north-south pipeline at considerable cost that takes water from the deprived Murray Darling basin.
• Commissioned the world's largest desalination plant which will cost around $5 billion to build, and residents will have to pay the private consortium "returns" even if they don't produce water

There was no community consultation about either project and the huge environmental impacts of both have been basically ignored. "Parliamentary rule" from Spring Street is not democracy - its dodgy business deals that deliver really bad outcomes that we all have to end up paying for decades to come.

If the government had commissioned recycling and storm water capture instead, we could have avoided the expense and environmental impacts of both these projects.

Links

• Melbourne water usage

Down the drain

This was published as a letter to the editor in The Age, 17/4/09



OUR use of mains water has been close to zero litres since 2001, when we installed water tanks. Despite record low dam levels our tanks are still half full.

If more homes were provided with rainwater storage of about 5000 litres per bedroom, the rivers of water that go down the drain every time it rains would instead be captured.

Tanks are a cheaper and better option than energy intensive engineering projects such as the desalination plant and the north-south pipeline. Using tanks, a daily target of mains water usage of less than 20 litres per person is achievable now.

Peter Campbell, Surrey Hills
Source: The Age

More information

• http://www.greenlivingpedia.org/Water_tanks
• http://www.greenlivingpedia.org/Melbourne_water_usage

Water tanks use less energy than desalination

John Brumby and Tim Holding would do well to consider mandating rainwater tanks for new houses rather than building an energy guzzling desalination plant.

Our domestic water tanks have supplied over 95 per cent of the water for our Surrey Hills house since we installed them in 2001. Based on our experience, 600,000 households could save up to 160 gigalitres of water per year by using captured rainwater and reducing their daily consumption. The energy our pump uses would multiply to 140 kWh of energy per day for these same households. The proposed desalination plant would consume 15 times as much energy just to operate.

There would also be significant emissions associated with the construction of the plant, the pumping of water to Melbourne and waste decomposition and transport.

Domestic water tanks would be a much cheaper, more effective, more greenhouse friendly and more popular solution to meeting Melbourne's water needs than either the proposed desalination plant or the north south pipeline projects.

Links

• Data on domestic water tank energy consumption
• Victoria's proposed desalination plant - facts and information
• Water tanks - information and tips
• Rainwater tank proposal sparks row in Victorian Government, The Age
  
• North South pipeline proposal - facts and information