"In the beginning"

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The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily the views of the blog management, (on the other hand, they are not necessarily not the views of the blog management).

No effort has been made to stay within the bounds of the truth in this blog as it has always been the view of the management that the truth should never be allowed to stand in the way of a good story.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Water In A Dry Land.

This is the ever increasing view of our water storage dams in Australia.


Water In A Dry Land.

I have written before about the fact that Australia is amongst the
driest continents on Earth, besides the shortage of water for
agricultural use, there is a huge shortfall in water to service the
towns and cities of an ever increasing number of areas.

This shortage of water has grown to include the whole of SE Qld,
Brisbane, the capital City is included in this area, and has been hit
by increased costs for water as well as the worsening restrictions
for usage.

There have been many studies done looking for best solutions to
the problem of water shortages, amongst many others the need
for more storage dams has been near the top of the list.

There have been many other suggestions like the installation of
domestic rain-water tanks, desalination plants for sea water,
purification plants for treatment of sewage, pipelines to move
water from the wetter areas to the dry spots.

To put it simply, if oil or gas was found in North QLD the Govt.
would build a pipeline immediately to SE QLD;

Water is one of the biggest assets of tropical Nth QLD, surely
building a pipeline south from far Nth QLD would be cheaper and
more beneficial than more dams in SE QLD. where many of the
existing dams have had little or no run-off for several years and
are at record low levels.

A pipeline from North Qld.at least taps into a different
catchment area, extending the pipeline to Sydney could also
then give QLD further revenue opportunities.

As with any project which demands changes people of course
have the habit of looking at things with tunnel vision and from
their own point of view, meaning that if you are on severe water
restrictions your view is substantially different to someone
whose property is to be resumed for the purpose of building a
new dam.

We in the Mary Valley, where I live, are currently embroiled in
this sort of conflict with the dramatically opposed people
getting quite noisy onthe subject.

This is made more controversial by the fact that our Mary
Valley
area is not badly affected by water shortages, the water
will be used to a large degree in other parts of SE Qld.

A new dam has been proposed in the Mary Valley

The State Government has announced plans for a new dam on
the Mary River near Gympie, to service southeast Queensland’s
increasing water needs.

The proposal would see a 600,000 megalitre dam covering 7,600
hectares built at Traveston Crossing.

The Cooloola region is rich farming land, supporting dairy, beef
and horticulture farms – and an increasing number of hobby
farmers heading to the northern end of the Sunshine Coast
looking for a ‘tree change’.

However, Cooloola Mayor Mick Vernados, whose shire includes
the Mary Valley, says several smaller dams may be a better
alternative than one large dam.

Recreational fisherman and tackle shop owner Ben Shorten says
a new water impoundment could bring tourist dollars and new
industries to Cooloola.

As would be expected the people with a vested interest,
property owners and residents of the proposed flooding are
loudly banging the “No Dams” drum, and of course there are
legitimate complaints about the chosen location.

14 comments:

Merle said...

Hi Peter ~~ Good post about a huge
problem. Sorry Margaret got sick just now but glad the problems are fixed.
That little pome desribes us both !!
"Who Me ??" Take care, Merle.

Raggedy said...

Very interesting..
Thanks.
Have a wonderful day!
*^_^
(=':'=) hugs
(")_ (")Š from da Raggedy one

Crazedmomof4 said...

Well, you taught me something today. Keep us posted on this. I'll pray for God's will in this. Just think how many of us don't think twice about water being readily available.

Jim said...

I have figured out the cause of your water problem and a solution. In fact a kicker to boot.
1. The cause: you guys are exporting all yous water in Lindeman wine and other brands with or without the kangaroos
http://www.lindemans.com.au/

2. The solution: stopping the wine exports

3. The kicker: pray for a miracle, turn all your Ausie wine into water [maybe crazedmomof4 will lead us in a prayer like this]
..
crazedmomof4, please forgive me if I'm being not nice or if you think this is sacrilegious. I'll be sorry, I am sorry you know.
..

Big Dave T said...

Yes, we in Michigan have a different view of drought-stricken areas. No tapping the Great Lakes! We'll gladly ship some bottled water out to you, though.

Anonymous said...

Have you ever seen the documentaries on Three Gorges dam in China? I'm sure the needs in AU are different than China - but either way massive change like this impacts people in different ways. This documentary was incredible - they told such a powerful and tearful story of millions of Chinese who were displaced to build the dam.

Dam or No Dam -- atleast Australians can protest - eh?
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/asian.superpower/three.gorges/

kenju said...

I saw a program tonight on PBS about the impact of humans on Mauna Kea in HA; specifically the huge telescopes and all the attendant buildings, etc. I really do think we have to become mindful of what we are doing to our planet. Making massive changes to the eco-system will make us pay - one way or the other.

Cliff said...

I guess contentious issues are world wide Peter. Thanks for the insights.
I stopped by last night and caught up on your blog. Some funny stuff below mate!

The Heir said...

there is like a permanent hose pipe ban in the UK which makes no sense to me coz this place can be depressively cold and wet... but apparently theres a drought on.
news from the posse house, im going to greece for two weeks. will keep people updated via the blog.

Marti said...

We lived in Northern California for a few years, and could see the "water wars" in action between the rainy north and the desert southern part of the state. I imagine it will become a world wide problem before long.
Very thoughtful post! Take care!

Hale McKay said...

Just another example, Peter, of a growing fresh water problem across the globe.

Val said...

Water, as well as other resources, are in dwindling supply. Yet the government wants us to go forth and multiply, creating even more problems! We need to look at population levels too, and how many people this arid country can support.

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

I hope that some kind of solution will be found that will satisfy everyone...but you know how that goes.

Anonymous said...

We in California particularly in Ownen's Valley know this problem well. Los Angeles and its acquduct (early 1900's)stole the farmers water and turned the valley into a desolate area.

I found this a very interesting post and I realize there are no easy answers to the problem.