Some Ideas Worth Considering

You may know I have a vested interest in things relating to Water. So seeing some results of a committee could lead to further developments. Some key points include:

■Wider use of "water offset" schemes, such as the one that allowed Flemington Racecourse to use extra water because it paid for water savings to be achieved at a third-party business.
■Promised environmental flows be delivered to rivers such as the Yarra "as a matter of priority".
■Contracts for the Wonthaggi desalination plant be designed to allow for water production volumes to vary each year, ensuring excess water is not purchased in wet years.
■The Auditor-General should review the effectiveness of water restrictions.
■Installation of water-saving devices such as shower heads and dual-flush toilets should be mandatory every time a property is sold or leased.

Also mentioned is the fact that:

the volume of stormwater running off central Melbourne each year was more than the city's annual consumption, yet policy decisions and planning rules remained the major barrier to increased adoption of rainwater tanks.

What it means is that as a community we should be looking at further ways to reduce consumption, replace supplies and to recycle. Personally I feel that the recycling part is where there could be the greatest benefits.

To give you an idea the Kraft Vegemite factory in Port Melbourne discharges in the order of 300,000 litres per day into the sewer system. That is equivalent to a population of over 1,900 people using their 155 litres per day.

There needs to be more effort invested into Community scale systems that allow for economies of scale compared to isolated systems resulting in a cheaper and more reliable source. Also with the upcoming increase in water prices, such schemes would become more economically viable.