The war for fresh water

Inevitable,

.......but Victoria has the solution, a brand spanking NEW, UNUSED, desalination plant, compliments of the Brumby politburo.


OC
 
Naphthalene Man said:
I gotta get another water tank I reckon. My problem is the lack of catchment for another tank though.
Click to expand...
We'll there is no point getting another tank if there is nothing to fill it with.

Now I don't know if it would work because I don't know the 'shelf life' but could you possibly get it filled the first time by cart then rotate tanks? Ie once one is full start using it as the catchment fills the other?
 
According to the United Nations research and scientific studies, nearly two-thirds of the entire population inhabiting the planet will face severe, life-threatening water shortages by the year 2025. The reasons most often cited for the water shortages are waste and poor planning which will result in uneven distribution.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure they said the same thing when I was in primary school, and I believed it, but the year was 2000 and that came, went, and was forgotten. Much like the predictions of DOOM.
 
When was the last big Dam built in Aus ? We hear all about drought all the time but precious little about floods unless they are disastrous, Dams can not only provide water but also mitigate flooding as well. Just how much water did any of those desal plants catch in recent major rain events?
Multiples the size of Sydney harbour run to the ocean every year here in the north, shit we have a private dam just down the road that holds 129,000ML most years and is totally unused except for a few thousand cattle, and that's only if the Mitchell river runs dry (yet to happen).
Water runs naturally from north Queensland all the way to lake Eyre in S.A every few years of it's own accord, surely we have the technology to create another lake Argyle (It's storage capacity, to the top of the spillway is 10,763,000 megalitres. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Argyle) or better in the north east and pipe it south and east?, That would be some major job creation and secure water supply for the majority of the country's population on the eastern seaboard.

Scarcity of water in this country apart from the normal boom or bust agriculture is due either to lack of forward planning or by design not due to lack of rain or water. The sub artesian basin which covers over 20% of the total landmass of Aus has about 65,000 cubic kilometres of water in it.
We might be the driest continent on earth outside of Antarctica but that is more due to landscape than rainfall or resources.

Naphthalene Man
Yesterday 08:24:13

I gotta get another water tank I reckon. My problem is the lack of catchment for another tank though.
Click to expand...

Chuck a new tank next to your existing one and put an overflow join in.
 
Paradise Dam was built on the Burnett River near Bundaberg around 2000...As far as irrigation goes it has proved to be a white elephant as the charges for water are too high so that during dry times not much water is used by farmers.

Also the dam is useless for flood mitigation as the flood in 2013 went right over the top..

I agree with SX that water could be diverted from parts of NQ to irrigate the inland areas of Qld, NSW and Victoria...Another inland irrigation to rival the Snowy Mt is what Australia needs right now to revive the economic life of parts of the Inland .

Regards Errol 43
 
Old Codger said:
Try and build a dam ANYWHERE in Australia now and see how far you get.


OC
Click to expand...


the future is desalination plants probably powered by renewable energy sources.

There is more than enough water on the planet for peoples needs.

Also read an article on the new expensive lemmon F35 JSF aircraft where the current Russian and Chinese aircraft are already superior to it and the next gen will be better again.

USA does not stand a chance.

edit link: http://www.news.com.au/technology/t...-too-big-to-fail/story-e6frfrnr-1226950254330
 
If fresh water is so readily abundant then why are we seeing stories such as the following....

The New "Water Barons": Wall Street Mega-Banks are Buying up the World's Water

A disturbing trend in the water sector is accelerating worldwide. The new "water barons" the Wall Street banks and elitist multibillionaires are buying up water all over the world at unprecedented pace.

Familiar mega-banks and investing powerhouses such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Macquarie Bank, Barclays Bank, the Blackstone Group, Allianz, and HSBC Bank, among others, are consolidating their control over water. Wealthy tycoons such as T. Boone Pickens, former President George H.W. Bush and his family, Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing, Philippines' Manuel V. Pangilinan and other Filipino billionaires, and others are also buying thousands of acres of land with aquifers, lakes, water rights, water utilities, and shares in water engineering and technology companies all over the world.

The second disturbing trend is that while the new water barons are buying up water all over the world, governments are moving fast to limit citizens' ability to become water self-sufficient (as evidenced by the well-publicized Gary Harrington's case in Oregon, in which the state criminalized the collection of rainwater in three ponds located on his private land, by convicting him on nine counts and sentencing him for 30 days in jail).
Click to expand...
More: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-ne...-banks-are-buying-up-the-worlds-water/5383274
 
SilverPete said:
If fresh water is so readily abundant then why are we seeing stories such as the following....

The New "Water Barons": Wall Street Mega-Banks are Buying up the World's Water

A disturbing trend in the water sector is accelerating worldwide. The new "water barons" the Wall Street banks and elitist multibillionaires are buying up water all over the world at unprecedented pace.

Familiar mega-banks and investing powerhouses such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Macquarie Bank, Barclays Bank, the Blackstone Group, Allianz, and HSBC Bank, among others, are consolidating their control over water. Wealthy tycoons such as T. Boone Pickens, former President George H.W. Bush and his family, Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing, Philippines' Manuel V. Pangilinan and other Filipino billionaires, and others are also buying thousands of acres of land with aquifers, lakes, water rights, water utilities, and shares in water engineering and technology companies all over the world.

The second disturbing trend is that while the new water barons are buying up water all over the world, governments are moving fast to limit citizens' ability to become water self-sufficient (as evidenced by the well-publicized Gary Harrington's case in Oregon, in which the state criminalized the collection of rainwater in three ponds located on his private land, by convicting him on nine counts and sentencing him for 30 days in jail).
Click to expand...
More: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-ne...-banks-are-buying-up-the-worlds-water/5383274
Click to expand...


I did not say "fresh" water specifically.


I said water is readily available.

but all sea water can be made drinkable. That is how the ARABS have been doing it with desalination for quite a while now.

water will not be a problem going into the future. Like I said all our needs can be met with desalination powered by renewables or nuclear energy.
 
Court Jester said:
SilverPete said:
If fresh water is so readily abundant then why are we seeing stories such as the following....

The New "Water Barons": Wall Street Mega-Banks are Buying up the World's Water

A disturbing trend in the water sector is accelerating worldwide. The new "water barons" the Wall Street banks and elitist multibillionaires are buying up water all over the world at unprecedented pace.

Familiar mega-banks and investing powerhouses such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Macquarie Bank, Barclays Bank, the Blackstone Group, Allianz, and HSBC Bank, among others, are consolidating their control over water. Wealthy tycoons such as T. Boone Pickens, former President George H.W. Bush and his family, Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing, Philippines' Manuel V. Pangilinan and other Filipino billionaires, and others are also buying thousands of acres of land with aquifers, lakes, water rights, water utilities, and shares in water engineering and technology companies all over the world.

The second disturbing trend is that while the new water barons are buying up water all over the world, governments are moving fast to limit citizens' ability to become water self-sufficient (as evidenced by the well-publicized Gary Harrington's case in Oregon, in which the state criminalized the collection of rainwater in three ponds located on his private land, by convicting him on nine counts and sentencing him for 30 days in jail).
Click to expand...
More: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-ne...-banks-are-buying-up-the-worlds-water/5383274
Click to expand...


I did not say "fresh" water specifically.


I said water is readily available.

but all sea water can be made drinkable. That is how the ARABS have been doing it with desalination for quite a while now.

water will not be a problem going into the future. Like I said all our needs can be met with desalination powered by renewables or nuclear energy.
Click to expand...

If multinational corporations, banks and billionaires are buying up the world's water rights, then governments will never approve large scale desalination if it undercuts these investments, let alone encourage the renewable energy infrastructure to power it if there is any risk to the businesses of incumbent energy industries.

The fact is, energy is becoming more expensive and this reduces the viability of desalination plants. And it would be political suicide for any Australian government to push for nuclear power.
 
SilverPete said:
Court Jester said:
SilverPete said:
If fresh water is so readily abundant then why are we seeing stories such as the following....


More: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-ne...-banks-are-buying-up-the-worlds-water/5383274
Click to expand...


I did not say "fresh" water specifically.


I said water is readily available.

but all sea water can be made drinkable. That is how the ARABS have been doing it with desalination for quite a while now.

water will not be a problem going into the future. Like I said all our needs can be met with desalination powered by renewables or nuclear energy.
Click to expand...

If multinational corporations, banks and billionaires are buying up the world's water rights, then governments will never approve large scale desalination if it undercuts these investments, let alone encourage the renewable energy infrastructure to power it if there is any risk to the businesses of incumbent energy industries.

The fact is, energy is becoming more expensive and this reduces the viability of desalination plants. And it would be political suicide for any Australian government to push for nuclear power.
Click to expand...

well that's your opinions and you are entitled to it but I disagree with every point you made.

desalination would be probably more expensive than dams / other natural sources so the gov wont be under cutting anyone however just like electricity is now there can be a mix of government and private owned "generators" Something as critical as water should never be left solely in the hands of private enterprise -- and this wont happen. We already have several large desalinization plants around the country and there is no reason they would not build more in the future if needed.

There is no reason why we cant have some of the cheapest electricity in the world in this country powered by renewable / nuclear power in Australia. We have abundant amounts of both. ( renewable energy sources and uranium ore )

One day Australia will be powered by Nuclear power. It is only a matter of time, we cant continue burning coal for ever.
 
Court Jester said:
Something as critical as water should never be left solely in the hands of private enterprise
Click to expand...

Why not?

What magical powers do governments possess that ensures they are the most effective and efficient providers of one of the basic needs of life?

Court Jester said:
There is no reason why we cant have some of the cheapest electricity in the world in this country powered by renewable / nuclear power in Australia.
Click to expand...

If you want government management of electricity then it won't come cheap.
 
Court Jester said:
Something as critical as water food should never be left solely in the hands of private enterprise
Click to expand...

If it's true for water why not for food? I mean, surely you are not suggesting that the provision of food should be left to something as unreliable as the market?
 
hawkeye said:
Court Jester said:
Something as critical as water food should never be left solely in the hands of private enterprise
Click to expand...

If it's true for water why not for food? I mean, surely you are not suggesting that the provision of food should be left to something as unreliable as the market?
Click to expand...
Booom.
 
Court Jester said:
There is no reason why we cant have some of the cheapest electricity in the world in this country powered by renewable / nuclear power in Australia. We have abundant amounts of both. ( renewable energy sources and uranium ore )
Click to expand...
The biggest reason to date has been that the cheapest electricity has not been from most renewables or nuclear - abundant or not. When they are actually cost effective there's no reason why we can't adopt them then. Whether it will be 2016, 2020 or 2050 who knows.
 
hawkeye said:
Court Jester said:
Something as critical as water food should never be left solely in the hands of private enterprise
Click to expand...

If it's true for water why not for food? I mean, surely you are not suggesting that the provision of food should be left to something as unreliable as the market?
Click to expand...


Argentines starved when their economy collapsed as companies exported the food that they produced
 
"Argentines starved when their economy collapsed as companies exported the food that they produced"



One of the little tricks the Argentines perfected in the '80s was get a big bunch of mates outside a supermarket.

Someone gave the signal, and they smashed down the doors and stripped the shelves bare. All in a matter of minutes. Why would the shop-keeper, or the wholesaler, bother?



OC
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top