This month’s lead Futuremakers story focuses on desalination’s impact on our environment. WWF’s June report on the issue was met with significant support from people in areas where desalination plants are being implemented.
Many of you wrote in to express your disappointment and concern over the elected government’s decision to progress local desalination plans without community consultation, against environmental groups’ legitimate concerns, and governments’ own coastal planning guidelines.
You can take action to stop the construction of desalination plants in coastal communities. If you are concerned about desalination and the impact on the environment, take steps to write to your local MP (if you’re not sure of your electorate, you can find it here) or State premier, or to the Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Ask that priority be given to safe alternatives to desalination. Such alternatives include localised water collection such as rainwater tanks, water efficiency projects, demand management and leakage reduction.
Photo: re_birf @ flickr
Is treating sewerage better than desalination? I’ve never really liked the idea of using sea water when we continue to dump our effluent in the ocean anyway, why not take out that step and simply recycle our waste?
The incredible rainfall over the past few months has highlighted what we already knew, that is, that although Australia is a dry continent, the seaboards receive sufficient rainfall to supply our needs. Our problem is that we are not harvesting our rainfall. We have the infrastructure to collect the rain, but it currently goes into the rivers and out to sea. Why aren’t we concentrating on diverting our rainfall to reservoirs and creating systems to pump the water into dams? Am I ignorant of some basic knowledge which proves its not possible to divert our rainfall into dams somehow? Or is the whole desalination question about profits for particular service providers? There is a principle known as the Bounouli principle which may be applied to assist water to flow uphill. There are just so many areas that have not been investigated, and one can only hazard a guess as to why.
I think desalination is just another human made disaster waiting to happen. We need to address the concerns of the planet. I don’t want to suggest something as dramatic and unrealistic as for us to STOP BREEDING but China did it for a while when there was too many of them. 1 child policy etc. I know us humans couldn’t stand to be told what to do like that, but seriously, we have raped and ravaged this planet at the expense of everything else that is entitled to be upon it! We really need to shift our thinking that this planet is here to serve us and to take whatever we want from it. Destroy the environment, steal habitat from other life forms and now? syphon water from the oceans just so we can flush our toilets with drinking water!
As a whole, the human race are the vermon on this planet, destructive, rapidly producing species who don’t take care of thier own.
Will fall off my soapbox now!
Enough rain falls on major cities to more than meet their population needs - it just needs to be collected. Individual large tanks to collect rainwater off house roofs as well as education and changing water usage habits would eliminate the need for desalination plants. If each household was independent, industry could use the existing catchment/reservoir water.
Each household should use its greywater for toilet flushing. People living in rural areas are already totally independent as far as water catchment for both domestic and stock use. Why cannot city people do the same?
our position is dry cold and water is another most needed natural component to live! for all living including all the floras and faunas worldwide! there is ample sea water and could be just put to use by salination action and supply many areas with the water that is needed for survival also major aid to our farming areas which develops the needed foods and goods to keep living most ideally for all. START DESALINATING OUR SEAS TO CREATE THE NEEDED WATERS!
I think it dreadful that the NSW and Vic Governments are bulldozing ahead with the building of desalination plants.
With Sydney in particular, this plan is wrong any way you look at it.
1. If the 2 billion dollars that it will cost to build it was spent giving every school rainwater tanks and retrofitted toilet plumbing, the plant would be unnecessary
2. The government has lied to us about the size of th plant - it is a complete joke that they shocked us in announcing they were increasing the size of the plant from 125 to 250ML - when the Dept of Planning has approved a 500ML plant
3. The government has lied to us about how often this will be used - how can the plant only be turned on during emergencies when it takes 90 days to power up and power down and costs millions to stand idle
4. If a 500 ML plant uses Green Power, it will use up to 80% of NSW available Green Power - what happens to the rest of us who should be using it?
5. The power to power a desalination plant is many times that of a water recycling plant
6. The construction of the Pipeline accross Botany Bay will stir up chemicals and greatly disturb the environment of Botany Bay
7. The conscentrated salt output from the plant will devastate local marine life - including Botany Bay
8. Damage to Botany Bay may include devastating Towra Point an important aquatic reserve, site of 50% of Sydney’s remaining mangroves and an essential resting place to several species of migratory birds
9. This plant will cost every Sydney resident both financially and ecologically
10. Sydney gets more rain than London - the government needs to fix leaks in the water delivery and catchments, recycled, installed more rainwater tanks and harvested stormwater.
WE DON’T NEED A DESALINATION PLANT!
There are so many other ideas that could be tried first. Why do they always choose the dumbest? Or most costly to the environment?
We should widen the catchment area, and create artificial streams to spread water around to places that need it.
I believe that desalination should be a last resort as people are still wasting water. we need to make sure we are saving and recycling grey water before we resort to desalination. furthermore if desalination is selected as an option i believe it shoul be 100% environmentally friendly as this will lead the world in incorporating energy efficient means of gaining water.
we don’t need a desalination plant. So lets stop it before it starts!
i think we definately need to harvest rainfall, if the water that goes down rainwater drains could be chanelled to our dams somehow, maybe this problem wouldn’t be so severe.
With regard to the Averil’s idea above, just want to correct an error: the Australian Government Minister for the Environment is Peter Garrett (and Minister for Water is Penny Wong), not Malcolm Turnbull of the Liberal Party who lost office and is now in Opposition - much as he wishes it were otherwise
Generally, agree with premise that desal is not the whole answer to water supply issue - diversify and survive. Thanks.
thanks Jenny Cottle
you make great sense as always and im glad you still are pasionate about the tanks
the desal is not a viable solution