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Fine, as long as the greenies are happy to deal with water supply via desalination plants, I for one don't care.
Garrett has knocked back the dam based on matters of "national environmental significance."
The one thing that burns me up here in Perth is we are short of water, yet we use drinking water to flush our toilets. How bad is that.
The one thing that burns me up here in Perth is we are short of water, yet we use drinking water to flush our toilets. How bad is that.
In many part of the world the public water mains supply water which may be technically within WHO guidelines for potability is essentially brackish. In the Arabian Gulf this is produced by blending ground water with distilled/desalted water. People use this for general household duties, flushing and irrigating but not drinking. Drinking water is supplied via tank trucks and is referred to as 'sweet water'
There is no possibility of marine growth as the salinity is too low and the water is taken from aquifers which are now suffering from years of over abstraction. While it's possible to use sweet water to charge a sprinkler system or fire main after installation or servicing it is very hard to keep to this fill. Hence the primary problem being pumps - as has been suggested there are a good range of sprinkler valve sets and components which are intended for marine use - I have seen some really good kit from Tyco on production platforms in the North Sea
It does seem however that it is the pumps which really suffer in such environments and I have seen some horrific impeller blade erosion in Nigeria on pumps that are less than 5 years old.
Incidentally, Hong Kong has salt water fire mains in many parts of Kowloon - look for the yellow hydrants ! (The ones on the old Kai Tak airport approach have nine 64mm outlets !)
The missus insists that stormwater runoff should be collected - and if necessary distributed in a second set of mains for "general purpose" - that way it could be untreated. or minimal treatment
Please clarify, I am struggling to see your point -
Instead of using drinking water in your toilets
would you prefer
to use toilet water to drink?
1. I spent years at uni studying biology, I have worked in labs and animal houses as a biologist.
2. ... The turtle is unusual in some ways, but only because of its genetic background. The breathing through the bum thing was hyped up, many Australian turtles breathe through that part of the body.
3. The lungfish on the other hand is one of the most incredibly important species on the planet, not just because it is extremely unusual and looks incredibly cool, but it is a fish with a bloody lung!
she seems to think that problem will be sorted out by others. - still where there's a will ...Does your missus have any suggestions on how this runoff storm water should be collected and distributed?
The Labor government was right to push for the dam, especially with southeast Queensland's population set to reach 4.4 million in another 20 years. The hapless LNP opposition, however, dominated as always by the narrow interests of the Nationals' bush base, turned its back on Brisbane and opposed the dam.
What is needed, and not just in Queensland, is a new mindset. In 2004, after decades of population growth in Sydney but no new dams, former NSW premier Bob Carr ruled out the option because "it would take years to build and even longer to fill, not to mention the damage done to surrounding farmland and natural areas". Melbourne has added a million people since the Thomson reservoir was built in 1983, and the Institute of Public Affairs has calculated that desalinated water will be six times the price of water from a new dam. Desalination plants also have a heavy carbon footprint through their power use. All in all, the Traveston decision is one of breathtaking absurdity, the cost of which will haunt southeast Queensland for a generation.
Every new house that is built should be made that the Grey water is collected, the shower water, and this would be used to flush the loo. Our trouble is that the water you use you are paying for, if we start to be sensible and use Grey water our local government won't make as much money from you as they do now.
With rainfall as it is, a new dam might turn out to be useless anyway, just sitting around mostly empty. Desalination is drought proof, so your 4.4 million people will have water to drink even if it doesn't rain.
In August 2007, Brisbane's supply fell to 16.7 per cent, when former premier Peter Beattie warned John Howard that health and hygiene were at risk. But had the Traveston Dam existed, rainfall would have filled it four times from 2003 to 2007.
Calliope, what's the problem with the desal plant at the Gold Coast?
FEARS the $1.2 billion Gold Coast desalination plant was rushed, compromising its quality, have been raised by officials overseeing the troubled project.
The Tugun plant, meant to be a showpiece of the State Government's $9 billion water grid, has been plagued by problems including rusting pipes, cracking concrete, faulty valves and leaching of contaminants from a rubbish dump.
The Government is refusing to take delivery of the facility until next June because of serious faults that have delayed the handover by 18 months.
:topicAny thoughts on turning the rivers back into the centre, as Joh Bjelke Petersen suggested.
You obviously didn't read the editorial as I suggested.
Sure, desalination is drought proof. The water is also several times more costly to produce than water from a dam, and has a huge carbon footprint, but I guess the carbon Greenies and the endangered species Greenies don't speak to each other.
We have a desalination plant down the Gold Coast which cost $1.5 billion. It is a white elephant. And now that the NIMBYs know they hold all the cards, obtaining sites to build more may prove impossible. The barricades are going up already.
I don't know where you come from, but as a resident of S.E. Qld, the decision to scrub the dam is very disquieting.
Thanks for the laugh
Incidentally, I too lived in SE QLD (Brisbane) for a while. I left in 2007, quite honestly, because Brisbane was such a backwards place.
...Thanks for the laugh
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