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LOOK UP: Stunning water tower artwork turns heads

ARTIST Sam Wilkinson needed a high risk, boom lift license to pull off this dare devil artwork, but the results speak for themselves. A jaw-dropping painting of a pink galah on a water tower brings beauty to the bush. Soaring 18m high, the artwork in Moura, about 180km west from Gladstone, is best captured at dusk according to the Brisbane artists, Sam and his girlfriend Xana Denruyter. The art on the Dawson Highway behind the Rotary park has been funded by the Queensland Government's Works for Queensland program. The Brisbane based visual artists, LEANS, watched as up to 30 drivers a day would stop to take a photo. Using only spray paint and a couple of cans of house paint the pair painted the enormous water tower canvas in just five days, working from morning to night.

"The most surreal part was when we were painting pink galahs would actually come and perch on the boom lift and fly around us," Sam, 23 said. "I think that's when we knew it was the best choice of painting for the community and it gave us some great real-life inspiration." The pair have been travelling to regional towns across Queensland, including Roma and Stanthorpe to bring water tanks, like the one in Moura, to life. "We were approached by Biloela's art gallery to do something with the tower," he said. "My style is usually abstract but this realistic style was a perfect fit for the town. "The hardest part was manoeuvring the boom lift around the tower. "On a straight wall it's a lot easier." Sam said the pair's spray paint machine didn't make it to Moura but they were lucky to hire the only one in Biloela for the job. "I think my favourite part of the artwork is the sky. It was definitely the most technical part," he said. "If you want to get a great shot I suggest going at sunset." Banana Shire arts and cultural officer Shanna Muston said the artwork has strengthened the local pride. "This project bring energy and colour to our landscapes," Ms Muston said. "The result leaves a cultural tourism assets for our community and visitors to enjoy and brings Moura into the conversation and excitement that is happening nationally around large scale, contemporary artworks in regional areas." Read more: Original Article

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The Pulse, SA’s breaking news blog: Severe weather warning as rain and strong winds lash SA

The Pulse, SA’s breaking news blog: Severe weather warning as rain and strong winds lash SAAFTER a day of wind and rain — and with more coming — Adelaide is the coldest city in Australia. The severe weather warning issued by the Bureau of Meteorology for the metropolitan area has been cancelled as the heavy rainband shifts towards the state’s South-East. Mid North districts through to the Riverland remains on high alert with the potential for damaging winds and heavy rainfall. At 4.30pm, Adelaide’s temperature was 13.2C, and dropping, the lowest temperature of all Australia’s major cities.

Adelaide’s weather as at 4.30pm.Source:Supplied An overnight minimum of 11 is expected. Thursday morning’s deluge kept emergency services busy, with flash flooding inundating houses, shops and roads across Adelaide. Houses in Glenelg North and Modbury Heights, shops at Modbury North and an office in Hillcrest flooded during the downpour. Part of a rumpus room roof collapsed at a Rostrevor property at about 10am. The inclement weather also forced the closure of some southbound lanes on South Rd at Bedford Park. Between 9am and midday, 5.2mm of rain was recorded at West Terrace and 7.8mm at Kent Town. But the greatest rainfall was measured in the higher regions, with 15.6mm recorded at Mount Lofty and 12.4mm at Mount Crawford. It prompted SA Police to urge motorists to slow down and take extra care when driving in the Adelaide Hills because rain was reducing visibility.The wet and windy weather comes just days after the Bureau announced SA experienced its hottest April on record. The state averaged a daily maximum temperature of 23.01C, beating its previous record of 22.99C in 2005.South Australia also recorded its driest April since 2005, with total rainfall 78 per cent below average. Meanwhile, Adelaide had its second warmest April in history, with its average maximum daily temperature reaching 26.2C, slightly cooler than in 1923 when the mercury averaged 26.9C. Read more: Original Article

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Australia’s biggest river is running dry, despite plans to save it

PADDLE steamers once chugged up and down the Darling, the main tributary of the Murray river, ferrying wool from remote farms to the port of Adelaide. The Murray-Darling basin, which is larger than Ethiopia, gives life to Australia’s arid interior (see map). But these days the Darling is reduced to a putrid standstill with alarming regularity. Parts of it disappear altogether at times, a phenomenon which was almost unprecedented before this century. Robert McBride, whose parched sheep station in the state of New South Wales depends on its flow, estimates that 600km of the lower Darling will run dry this year. This is just the kind of disaster that should have been averted after Australia launched an ambitious plan to preserve the river in 2012. The four states that depend on the Murray and its tributaries had been fighting bitterly over its contents. Since the 1970s enormous farms growing irrigated crops such as cotton and nuts had spread across the basin. When a catastrophic drought struck in the early 2000s, the mouth of the river almost ran dry. So politicians thrashed out a plan to conserve the river, while sustaining the farms and communities that depend on it. Australia already had an elaborate system for trading water rights, allowing farmers to buy or sell entitlements according to their need in any given season. The idea of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan was to reduce water consumption by at least 2,750 gigalitres a year, either by purchasing water licences from farmers who were willing to sell them or by funding projects which could deliver “equivalent” outcomes—for instance, by making irrigation systems more efficient. So far, the government has spent over A$8bn ($6bn), and in theory cut usage by two-thirds of the target. Yet, somehow, the river is still at a low ebb.

The first independent review of the plan, published last year by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, found “no evidence yet to demonstrate improvement across the basin as a whole”. Another report, by the authority which administers the scheme, concluded that irrigation in the basin’s upper reaches was still depriving those farther downstream, like Mr McBride, of water. Richard Kingsford, a scientist in Sydney, says that the plan’s targets were not ambitious enough in the first place. But it also seems that more water is being siphoned from the stricken river system than was intended. Theoretically, water saved with taxpayers’ money should stay in the river. But not all of it does: the Wentworth Group says state governments use several tricks to “retard” that process. Victoria hoards water in dams. New South Wales has altered local water-management schemes along the Darling’s tributaries, allowing irrigators to pump out more. This means that liquid purchased by the government in Queensland is guzzled back up again when it crosses the state border, explains Jamie Pittock, a member of the group. Illegal extraction is a second problem. Farmers are meant to use meters to monitor how much they pump. But last year, cotton irrigators in New South Wales were accused of tampering with their machinery to mask how much they were taking. Two families face charges associated with breaches of their licences. There is also concern that money which was supposed to fund projects that would conserve the Murray-Darling is being misspent, allowing irrigators who have sold water to the government to replace it with flows to which they are not entitled. One big cotton farm is currently under investigation. Wide-scale abuse has been possible because states and local governments have failed to enforce the rules. Last year, New South Wales’s top water bureaucrat was caught on tape offering to share confidential information with irrigation lobbyists. (He was referred to the state corruption watchdog.) From the shelter of his veranda, Mr McBride fumes that “the greatest man-made destruction in Australian history is being condoned by New South Wales and the federal government.” The federal government has handed oversight of the plan to the farm-friendly National Party, the junior partner in the governing coalition. Since then, critics claim, regulatory oversight has slackened. The Environmental Defenders Office NSW, a pressure group, notes that there is no legal bar to stacking the board of the authority in charge of the plan. Four of its six members have links to the irrigation industry. Parliament recently ordered the publication of details of a series of “buy-backs” of water rights. In one case, the government spent A$78m—almost twice the sum recommended by its own researchers—on a water licence belonging to an agricultural company, Webster. The purchase was not put to a public tender. Webster had taken over Tandou Limited, which owns the property in question, only 18 months earlier. Nick Xenophon, an independent senator at the time, complained that the plan was being “systematically undermined”. This month the Senate approved an amendment to the plan which lets communities in the southern part of the basin consume more water. The extra consumption is supposed to be offset by 37 “efficiency-saving” projects. New South Wales had threatened to abandon the plan altogether if the amendment failed. But the Wentworth Group questions whether the projects will really deliver the promised savings; it believes that only one of them is watertight, as it were. Communities which rely on irrigation detest the plan because it threatens their livelihood. Yet their thirst hurts farmers downstream. Indigenous tribes who imbue the river with spiritual significance say that their elders are dying with it. Scientists worry about the loss of fish and birds. The Coorong, an important wetland near the river’s mouth, has been polluted with salt and algae as the river’s flow diminishes. David Paton, an ecologist, has spent decades monitoring its fairy terns. Their numbers are a quarter of what they were in the 1980s. “We’ve pushed this system to the point of collapse,” he laments, “and we’re watching the species go to extinction.” Hope comes in the form of greater accountability. Overwhelming evidence of theft and mismanagement has led to more prosecutions. New South Wales has established a new regulator, and South Australia has launched a royal commission to look into breaches of the plan. If state governments walk away, the national government could, by law, enforce the rules instead—if it were so inclined. Read more: Original Article

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Water bills for average WA household should be lower, WA watchdog says

Western Australia's three State Government-owned water utilities are charging more for water than it costs them to provide, a report has found — and it has recommended changes that could save the average household $400 a year.

An Economic Regulation Authority (ERA) inquiry has found the Water Corporation, Aqwest and Busselton Water were all recovering significantly more revenue than they were spending on supplying water services, including wastewater and drainage. The ERA said as a result, the State Government was set to receive $338.4 million more in revenue from Perth customers alone. The watchdog has recommended changes to the way bills are structured. Under the changes, the fixed service charge would be cut and, in turn, the per unit price for water would increase to $2.41 per kilolitre, in an attempt to encourage smarter use. But it would also mean households that use a lot of water would face higher bills. Give people incentive to save water: scientist Environmental scientist and gardening presenter Josh Byrne has long been arguing for such a change. He and his family live in one of Perth's most water-wise homes. They have a rainwater tank, collect greywater to use on their garden and share a bore with another house on their block. As a result, they use about 90 per cent less mains water than the average WA household and, for most of the year, they only pay the service fee on their water bill. Dr Byrne said if West Australians were charged more based on consumption, it would drive residents to use water more responsibly and would also serve as an incentive for people to invest in water-saving technology in their homes. "I think what we need to look at is how else can we value the role of these technologies," he said. "There's probably an argument to rethink the service charge component of bills for those people that are taking the strain off the infrastructure." But UWA water expert Anas Ghadouani was not convinced that was the best approach. "People have tried it in other places with fairly mixed reviews," he said. "Maybe it will even send the wrong message — 'if you can pay it, you can use it' — which is not necessarily what we want." In July, the Government increased water services charges by 6 per cent, with a further 6 per cent increase to be imposed in 2018-19 and increases of 2.5 per cent each year thereafter. Treasurer Ben Wyatt said more work needed to be done before any changes to tariffs could be made. "The Government would, for example, be keen to see the distributional consequences of any proposals," Mr Wyatt said. "The ERA's recommendations will be considered as part of the 2018-19 budget process." Earlier this year, a Monash University study concluded that Perth residents used twice as much water per capita as those in Melbourne and Brisbane — but the Water Corporation disputed some of the findings.

Read more: Original Article

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Prediction Melbourne could begin to run short of water by 2028

Melbourne could begin to experience chronic water shortages within about a decade, even if the desalination plant is cranked up to its full capacity, as climate change and population growth rapidly deplete the city's dams. Demand for water could begin to exceed supply by 2028, triggering tough water restrictions and a costly 25 per cent boost to the capacity of the desalination plant, under a worst-case scenario modelled by Melbourne's water corporations. This scenario suggests the city must take major steps in the next few years to guard Melbourne's water storages from reaching dangerously low levels that could put it on a permanent drought footing.

Demand for water in and around Melbourne could grow by about 75 per cent in the next 40 years, while flows into the state's catchments could decrease by more than 40 per cent, according to projections published this month by City West Water, Yarra Valley Water and South East Water. According to the three state-owned corporations' 50-year urban water strategies, Melbourne's water supply is secure for another 10 to 15 years, "even under high climate change and high population growth scenarios", largely because of the desalination plant. Beyond that date, supply becomes uncertain. Environment Victoria's acting chief executive, Nicholas Aberle​, said the $6 billion desalination plant had given Melbourne a 10-year buffer to get its water supply under control. "The risk is that we don't take this warning seriously until it's too late," Mr Aberle said. "We need to use that 10 years really wisely and to get serious about harvesting stormwater and re-using water for all sorts of purposes." Evidence suggests, however, that many Melburnians have begun to forget the lessons learned during the severe millennium drought of 1997 to 2009. Average residential water consumption rose to 166 litres a person a day in 2015-16, the highest level seen since the drought ended, figures from Melbourne Water show. It dipped slightly to 162 litres a day in 2016-17. Melbourne Water spokesman Joseph Keller said Melburnians were "encouraged to limit their consumption to 155 litres per person per day", in line with the government's Target 155 campaign. This year has been dry with below-average rainfall in five of the first six months. Melbourne's dams were 72 per cent full at the start of summer last year and are 62 per cent full now. The millennium drought depleted Melbourne's water storages to 25 per cent, the lowest seen since the 1970s, before the vast Thomson dam was commissioned. The water strategies predict that droughts like it may occur more frequently as the climate changes. The potential shortage by 2028 is one of three possible scenarios modelled by Melbourne's water corporations. If population growth and climate change occur more incrementally, it's predicted demand for water will exceed supply by about 2043. If Victoria avoids the impacts of climate change, and water consumption does not rise significantly, the city's supply will be secure for at least another 50 years. The strategies, which are based on guidelines for climate change adaptation set by the Andrews government, effectively rule out building another dam in Victoria, because it would exact too great a toll on the environment. "The removal of water from rivers, and the construction of any associated infrastructure such as weirs or dams, can have significant environmental and social impacts," the strategies state. "For these reasons, it is difficult to justify further investment in infrastructure to harvest more water from rivers." Coalition water spokesman Peter Walsh criticised the advice against ever building another dam, arguing it could limit the ability to store water during future wet periods. "If you look at climate scenarios in future projections, it's likely that there will be more extreme events, wet and dry," Mr Walsh said. "So we should be storing water for the dry times. You never say never." What is recommended is boosting the $6 billion desalination plant, already one of the world's largest, from 1500 billion litres a year to 2000 billion litres, even though this would bring an increase in household water bills. Water bills rose $12 last year because of the first order of 50 billion litres from the Wonthaggi plant. One way the water corporations have already begun to boost water security is by recycling sewage into non-drinking water. At the Western Treatment Plant on Melbourne's south-western periphery, City West Water's West Wyndham recycled water project has begun to provide recycled water to new outer suburban housing estates. A 20-megalitre tank feeds water to about 5000 homes in and around Werribee, via purple pipes that signify it is not for drinking. The water is a "shandy" of 50 per cent recycled water and 50 per cent drinking water. A salt-reduction plant is being built so the tank can provide 100 per cent recycled water. It will eventually service about 40,000 properties in Wyndham, one of Australia's fastest-growing municipalities. The $205 million project will save Melbourne an estimated 250 million litres of water a year, City West Water said. "As our city experiences growth, we wanted to position ourselves as providing a modern, long-term and secure supply for our residents," the corporation's general manager of strategy and planning, Cameron FitzGerald, said. It's a significant amount of water but it is also a relative drop in the ocean; about 0.1 per cent of Melbourne's current annual demand of 272 billion litres a year.

Read more: Original Article

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Murray Darling Basin Authority powerless to act against farmers harvesting floodwaters

The Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) is powerless to prevent upstream farmers harvesting overland floodwaters desperately needed to flow through the river system for the benefit of all users, the authority's head has admitted. It comes as details emerge of massive earthworks built to enable upstream farmers to carry out "floodplain harvesting". When torrential rains lashed Queensland in 2016, Chris Lamey wasn't surprised his Goondiwindi farm flooded. What did surprise him was that seven weeks later, his property was still completely under water. "When we found there was no flood downstream we got a chopper straight away and we went to the air and we tracked down to see what was wrong," Mr Lamey told 7.30. What he found was a section of more than 52 kilometres of earthworks holding the water in place "Massive amounts of earthworks, chronically across the floodplain," he said. "They're just banks, north-south, across the flow of the water." The earthworks are constructed on a large, irrigated cotton aggregate, Norman Farming, that has received tens of millions of dollars through the Commonwealth's Healthy Headwaters program to make its operation more water efficient. Mr Lamey said the Federal Government's $1.5 billion plan to save water had backfired. "It's a scam of massive proportions," he said. He alleges the Queensland Government, which administers the plan, has allowed Norman Farming to use Commonwealth funds to catch and store enormous volumes of water as it flows over the floodplain. "They're using government funds to store water on other farms that would normally not get it, and it's allowing them to take up to 25 times more water than they're offered in savings, and the taxpayer has funded it for millions of dollars," Mr Lamey said. "No meters, no-one knows how big the dams are, no-one knows how much water is going where. They just call it leakage. "It's a loss but it's a massive number. It's wiped out all the [water] savings in Queensland completely." The Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines denied claim. In response to 7.30 questions, the Department said the regulation of levees on the floodplain was the responsibility of local government. Queensland Police investigating Norman Farming is run by Cotton Grower of the Year John Norman. Mr Norman declined to be interviewed by 7.30, but told the ABC the bulk of the unapproved banks and roads were in existence when he took over the properties in 2012. He said drains allowed water to run through. Norman Farming is seeking retrospective approval for the earthworks from Goondiwindi Shire Council. Queensland Police's Major Crime Unit is investigating whether taxpayer dollars given to Norman Farming have been used appropriately. The ABC understands the company has received at least $25 million for eight separate projects. The months-long covert police operation was revealed last September when police raided Norman Farming properties as well as the properties of several contractors. Norman Farming is now on the market, with an expected sale price of well over $100 million. It lists impressive water resources in its marketing documents. Bill Johnson, a former senior employee of the Murray Darling Basin Authority, said Norman Farming's extensive earthworks were typical of irrigation practices across the Queensland and northern NSW floodplains. "In the north, most irrigation is based on those works, the big on-farm storages, the channels, the levees," he told 7.30. "Irrigation up there is based on private works on large properties. "The intent is to harvest as much water as possible. It's as simple as that." Authority powerless to act Mr Lamey first sought help about the floodplain harvesting 18 months ago. "I contacted 74 bureaucrats," he said. "Some I never heard back from, some people handled me, some wanted to shut me down. "It's a huge amount of water that's being held back in Queensland. "We want the river to flow. We want these massive volumes of water to keep flowing down the river system, to communities like Wilcannia and Bourke, to the irrigators, the cattle people, the horticulturists and the fishermen." Last week, MDBA head Phillip Glyde travelled to Mr Lamey's farm to see first hand what was happening. "I've learnt a lot," Mr Glyde told 7.30. "For people like the Lameys, it's very hard to negotiate through and find what's the best way to make sure the problems they're experiencing don't occur." Although he admitted floodplain harvesting was a serious issue, he acknowledged there was nothing the authority could do in relation to the approval and regulation of irrigation earthworks. "There's overlapping responsibilities: local, state, different departments," he said. "Then you've got the Commonwealth, then you've got the Murray Darling Basin Plan." On Wednesday, the Senate decides whether to pass a proposed reduction in the amount of water Queensland irrigators give back to the ailing Murray Darling River system. "We don't want the irrigators to be keeping even more water, we want the banks pulled down in Queensland," Mr Lamey said. "We want the river to run like it should." Read more: Original Article

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SA Water to put floating solar panels in Happy Valley water treatment plant to bring down power bills

FLOATING solar panels will occupy the Happy Valley water treatment plant as SA Water turns to renewable energy to cut down on its considerable water bills. Water Minister Ian Hunter said the $10.5 million investment in solar panels would keep water bills as “low and stable as possible” but said it was too early to put a figure on how much households could save. The measures are accompanied by three privately funded renewable energy trials as part of an ambitious plan to substantially slash SA Water’s power bill, reducing its net electricity costs to zero dollars by 2020. SA Water’s annual water bill currently costs $55 million, but it hopes the new renewable energy initiatives will allow it to pump water when electricity prices are cheap and sell power back into the grid at times of high demand, bringing the overall cost to zero. The plan involves: FLOATING solar panels on the Happy Valley reservoir, set to be installed by French company Akuo Energy. TRIALLING a 128KW flywheel energy storage system, developed by SA company Greenfields Energy. $500,000 towards a 100KW solar pv, to be paired with a 50 KWh battery storage system, to be located at SA Water’s Crystal Brook depot. SOLAR panels ot be installed across metropolitan Adelaide facilities, at a cost of $10 million. The State Government had already announced a $1.6 million grant for 1414 degrees Celsius to trial new silicon thermal storage technology at SA Water’s Glenelg Wastewater Plant. SA Water chief executive Roch Cheroux said the trials would last for several months, with the total cost of the renewable energy initiatives to be determined by the success of the trial. Read more: Original Article

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‘Aggressive’ Dendrobium mine causing ‘grave, severe’ impacts on Sydney water catchments

After six months of being kept under wraps, reports on the impacts of a mine west of Wollongong have been released, revealing "disturbing" fracturing and bulging, putting Sydney's drinking water catchment at risk.

The Dendrobium coal mine is located underneath the metropolitan special area, which provides a buffer zone of bushland around catchment areas to protect drinking water. As well as seam-to-surface fracturing across parts of the mine, there has been an unexpected finding of valley bulging alongside Sydney's major dams. This can result in a loss of valuable drinking water from the catchment. National Parks Association of NSW mining projects officer Peter Turner described the affects to the catchment as "grave, extensive and much more severe than warned of". "It's now clear why [NSW Department of Planning] withheld these reports from WaterNSW, OEH [Office of Environment and Heritage] and the community for as long as they could," he said. Mr Turner said the "greatly disturbing" findings speak volumes about the department's values, and financial returns from the mine seem to be more important than the integrity of Sydney's primary health asset — drinking water. "The mining underway in [one area] of Dendrobium mine is the most aggressive mining to have been approved in the special areas. "And amongst the most aggressive anywhere in NSW." Mr Turner said confirmation of seam-to-surface fracturing in what was supposed to be a protected part of the catchment was most worrying, and the side effects from bulging would only become worse. "The valley bulging, which then causes deformation to the rock underneath and around the reservoirs, generates leakage pathways from the reservoir into the groundwater system, so it is meant to be causing water loss around Cordeaux," he said. "It's not known whether that is yet happening at Avon. "For Cordeaux it is uncertain how much water loss is occurring but it is certain with more mining, whatever loss is occurring is only going to get worse."

Mr Turner said confirmation of seam-to-surface fracturing in what was supposed to be a protected part of the catchment was most worrying, and the side effects from bulging would only become worse. "The valley bulging, which then causes deformation to the rock underneath and around the reservoirs, generates leakage pathways from the reservoir into the groundwater system, so it is meant to be causing water loss around Cordeaux," he said. "It's not known whether that is yet happening at Avon. "For Cordeaux it is uncertain how much water loss is occurring but it is certain with more mining, whatever loss is occurring is only going to get worse." Premier must halt any extension: Lock the Gate The report has prompted calls from environmental groups for a moratorium on any further mining in the area until stricter controls are introduced on existing mines. Lock the Gate Alliance spokesperson Georgina Woods said it was unacceptable that management actions for the Dendrobium mine had failed to protect Sydney's drinking water. "This report reveals that precious rainfall that should be feeding Sydney's dams and drinking water supply is being drawn into the polluting mining voids beneath the surface," she said.

Ms Woods also called for plans for further expansions at the mine and for two new longwalls to be halted. Dendrobium mine is distinguished from other mines by its two-kilometre longwall mining which allows for extractions 400 metres below the surface at a width of 300 metres. "The Premier must commit that the planned longwall coal panels will not proceed," she said. "We need a moratorium on any further mining operations in the catchment and a full inquiry into the impacts of the Southern Coalfields on our water resources." NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was "absolutely" concerned by the reports and the Government would investigate. "We need to take a serious look at this because I don't want anything compromising now and into the future, any of our water security or any of our prime agricultural land," she said. Department stood with BHP Billiton In approving mining at Dendrobium in 2013, the department embraced BHP Billiton's rejection of a 2012 impact assessment that predicted seam-to-surface fracturing. "[The department] did so without advising and consulting WaterNSW or advising OEH or the community," Mr Turner said. The ABC has sought comment from the Department of Planning. In 2015, the National Parks Association wrote a letter to the Department of Planning warning of fracturing. In 2016, it advised in a report that the groundwater in reservoirs had been severely disrupted by mining. The mine's owner, South32, provided a statement to the ABC and said the details within the report were being examined. "We will continue to engage with government agencies and other key stakeholders to ensure continued compliance with consent conditions." A WaterNSW spokesperson told the ABC the report "accurately represents the state of current understanding of this critical issue". The report's key recommendations should be incorporated into an assessment of mining applications, the spokesperson said. Read more: Original Article

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New developments save precious water resources

The State Government has announced a new water-pricing model to be introduced on July 1, 2018 that will aim to charge higher water prices for those households that they label ‘water guzzlers’. Under the new model, a planned increase to the fixed service charge will be reduced and those households in Perth that use more than 500 kilolitres of water per year will receive an average water bill increase of around 16 per cent. In country areas the model will target those that use more than 300 kilolitres a year with a 10 per cent increase. In announcing the new model, Minister for Water the Hon. Dave Kelly pinpointed some of the suburbs that are WA’s main water guzzlers. He said the western suburbs were home to many of Perth’s biggest household water consumers. According to the government, the highest water consumers make up less than seven per cent of Perth households but use a significant 17 per cent of Perth’s residential water. Not surprisingly, many of the highest water usage households are located in established suburbs where water saving was not a priority when those areas were designed and built. This is as opposed to new land developments that are raising the bar significantly when it comes to saving our precious water supplies. According to the Water Corporation’s water-use calculator, newer areas such as Alkimos, Eglinton and Forrestfield all recorded water consumption levels below the Perth average in 2016-17. That is because overall, newer areas have smaller lot sizes with less lawn areas and primarily include drought-resistant or native planting both in private and public spaces. The majority of developers also implement water-sensitive urban design principles into their planning and development, which maximises opportunities to reuse storm water and recharge groundwater. This means households and public open spaces use less water, which has a significant impact on our water supplies. UDIA is providing leadership in ensuring our water supplies are sustainable by encouraging developers to certify their projects under our EnviroDevelopment program. EnviroDevelopment requires projects to meet extremely high standards in order to receive accreditation under the water element of the program. Projects receiving certification must implement measures which reduce potable water use across the project beyond regulatory requirements, including promoting the use of alternative water sources, water-efficient appliances, fixtures and fittings and water-efficient landscaping in private outdoor spaces and common areas. Overall, it is encouraging to see new development is leading the way in saving water for future generations. Read more: Original Article

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Study suggests Perth uses double the water of other capitals, but is that the whole story?

A Monash University study has concluded that Perth residents use twice as much water per capita as those in Melbourne and Brisbane, but the water authority says that is not the full story.

Associate Professor Jo Lindsay conducted a national survey and held focus groups to examine attitudes to water and shortages following the millennium drought, which affected most of southern Australia from 1996 to 2010.

She concluded that in Brisbane and Melbourne residents had a sense of the crisis, whereas in Perth access to water from desalination plants and ground water meant people responded less actively at a household level in reducing their consumption.

The survey found households in Perth used 340 litres per person per day, compared to 166 litres in Melbourne and 194 litres in south-east Queensland.

Dr Lindsay told ABC Radio Perth the difference might be due to Perth’s long-standing dry conditions, whereas drought had come as a shock for the eastern states.

“Perth people are very accepting of desalinated water and recycled water and recharged aquifers,” she said.

“But the downside is that there hasn’t been as much attention as there has been in the eastern states on saving water at a household level.

Does Perth really use THAT much water?

But Sue Murphy, the chief executive of Western Australia’s Water Corporation, disputed some of the figures and conclusions from the Monash study.

Ms Murphy said the research averaged water use in Perth and included business and industry use.

She said the correct per capita figure for households was 246 litres per day.

And when indoor water use was compared, Perth residents used about the same amount of water as those in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, she added.

“It’s outside the house that the difference comes in.

“That’s largely because we have larger block sizes and fewer people living in apartments. We have beach sand in the ground instead of clay in our gardens.

“Most importantly, we have usually no rain from November to March, whereas in Melbourne the wettest months of the year are March and November.

“Our wet weather is all in winter normally and that is why outside the household use is significantly higher than on the east coast.”

She said state governments from both sides of politics recognised the importance of not letting gardens die during summer.

Water and politics

Furthermore, Ms Murphy said there was evidence to suggest Perth residents were making more efforts to reduce their consumption than their eastern counterparts.

“It is absolutely true that the people in Melbourne and Sydney and Brisbane use less water per capita than the people of Perth, but since the end of the millennium drought in 2010-11, water use in every one of those capital cities has gone up,” she said.

“Our water use since 2001 has come down and down.”

It was a declining consumption trend that Ms Murphy hoped to see continue.

But Dr Lindsay said her focus group studies indicated that Perth residents would be unlikely to accept aggressive water restrictions.

“There was definitely the sense when we talked to Perth residents in focus groups that anybody who wanted really strong water restrictions would have a political death wish,” she said.

Read more: Original Article

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Rainwater harvesting could save Australia billions

Implementing water efficiency measures in planning policy could help save Australia billions of dollars, improve water resilience and help reduce the emissions of housing stock, according to the Rainwater Harvesting Association Australia, but most state governments are dragging the chain.

Citing work from Dr Peter Coombes from Urban Water Cycle Solutions, RHAA executive officer Michael Smit said that applying water efficient measures, such as rainwater harvesting systems, into new buildings in Victoria could reduce the net present costs of water cycle management to 2050 by $6 billion, and save $3.5 billion in South East Queensland between now and 2056.

Savings break down

Speaking to The Fifth Estate, Dr Coombes said: “When you turn the tap on in your house, it comes from a dam or another water source through big pumps and pipes and storage reservoirs until it gets to your house. The water you don’t use is then discharged by another set of pipes and infrastructure to the wastewater system.

“But if you put a rainwater harvesting tank on that house, you’re using rainwater rather than getting it from the water supply system. That means a certain proportion of water is no longer travelling through all the centralised water infrastructure, so you’re deferring that cost, and that saves money.”

For example, water prices in Brisbane are currently around $3.40 for 1000 litres, but the cost of supplying water to different parts of the city, including storage, pumping, treatment and testing, means the real cost of delivering water could be over $8 a kilolitre. If the cost of delivery was taken out of account, it could save $4.6 per kilolitres.

Mr Smit said: “If the marginal cost of rainwater harvesting paid by the homeowner is $2.50/kL there is a significant community benefit. The small benefit at a household scale becomes considerable at the neighbourhood scale, significant at a city scale and massive at a regional scale measured over 20 or 30 years.”

And, as well as cost savings in delivery, rainwater harvesting could also reduce stormwater infrastructure costs and flood damage by “millions of dollars”.

Dr Coombes said rainwater tanks were “storing water, rather than it being runoff into the system”, which also helped to protect waterways and wetlands.

“So there is a double benefit of changing behaviour.”

Lack of state action

Mr Smit has argued that the financial and environmental savings that can be had from rainwater harvesting could be realised if states implement water and energy saving targets to all new buildings and significant renovations.

However, only NSW to date has implemented such a policy – through the Building Sustainability Index (BASIX, which sets sustainability targets for water and energy as well as minimum performance levels for the thermal comfort of new developments).

To date, BASIX has resulted in rainwater harvesting being implemented in 90 per cent of all new dwellings in NSW and delivered a 40 per cent water and energy saving in building performance since 2004.

Why states aren’t motivated to act

So why have other states been dragging their heels? According to Dr Coombes, most states are aware of the findings, but are not motivated to implement such a scheme.

“No one analyses the whole system together; it’s partial accounting,” he said. “The states are more interested in the revenue earned from water monopolies than counting for the full cost of what they’re doing.

“Water companies don’t have to worry about how much things cost because someone else picks up the tab… Customers just get a price increase from the regulator and mums and dads pay for it.

“But I’ve worked out that in each of the capital cities, these [rainwater harvesting] ideas will reduce the water demand by a fair bit, thereby reducing the revenue earned by the water monopolies. It could reduce the cost by twice as much.”

He added: “Most states know about this work, but it needs to be higher profile because it’s something we need to do as a nation. The BASIX program shows that. But to do that, you need to take a whole society perspective rather than revenue.

“It takes a pretty strong public-based conversation to get to a better answer for society.”

Sustainable Buildings policy outline

As such, the RHAA, backed by Dr Coombes, is calling on state governments to implement a Sustainable Buildings policy.

This would include: a 40 per cent reduction in mains water use as compared to 2013 levels in all new and significantly renovated dwellings a 25 per cent reduction in demand for grid electricity as compared to 2013 levels for all new and significantly renovated dwellings. a state environmental planning policy that stipulates water and energy targets for dwellings, supported by a simple web-enabled planning approval tool and model design guidelines an evidence-based planning policy to avoid substantial economic costs and environmental impacts independent monitoring and assessments, including annual reviews and progress reports.

“A public responsibility to promote this policy”

Mr Smit said: “Australia will need to build about four million new households by 2036, a 50 per cent increase from 2011.

“We suggest that those houses should be considerably better than the houses we build now and that there is an existing low risk policy to achieve this. Given the public savings are measured in the billions of dollars we believe we have a public responsibility to promote this policy.”

Dr Coombes added: “From my findings, I fully agree with the need to have a national conversation about this. It’s more than just about the revenue and single infrastructure agenda of a small group of organisations.

“We need a water policy discussion in place that represents more of society.”

It appears that state governments are already sitting up and taking note, with Queensland’s water minister Mark Bailey reportedly calling a departmental briefing on the findings of a report last month.

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Water tanks running dry

RESIDENTS relying on water tanks are feeling the pinch of the extremely dry conditions – all the way to their purse pockets.

Rosedale woman Miranda Maszlik rang three water cartage businesses to get quotes to refill her bone-dry 12,000L tank, and said she was shocked to receive three very varying quotes, with one $100 more than the cheapest option.

Ms Maszlik said the cheapest tank refill was $260 with C&M Water Cartage.

“The gentleman in Kolan was going to charge me $360,” she said.

Ms Maszlik said she did not understand why there would be such a discrepancy in the pricing.

“They get the water from the same place,” she said.

“There should be some rules and regulations there.”

But Kolan Transport Services owner Jo Macdonald said the reason the quote was higher than the others was because the business used a 20,000L tank for water cartage, while others only used 12,000L vehicles.

“Everybody has their prices evaluated to the litres they carry and the kilometres that they go,” she said.

Talia Collin, from Rain Man Domestic Water which quoted Ms Maszlik $300 for the water supply, said it was up to the business what price they charged.

“We work out our prices from the distance, not litres,” she said.

Mrs Collin said water cartage businesses right across Bundaberg were under the pump trying to keep up with the demand.

“It’s so dry at the moment and we’ve got three trucks running and we can’t keep up,” she said.

C&M Water Cartage said the cost of the water was also in the delivery.

Read more: Original Article

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WA Budget 2018: Perth’s worst water guzzlers to cop a whack

PERTH’S worst water guzzlers — typically homes in the leafy western suburbs and in the Hills — will be hit with a 16 per cent price rise from July 1.

Heavy water users in country WA haven’t been spared either, with their charges to rise 10 per cent for all water they use over 500 kilolitres a year.

For families who use water wisely, bills will increase an average 5.5 per cent in 2018-19.

The standard fixed service water charge for all households will go up 3 per cent, half of what was forecast in the last State Budget.

Figures from Water Minister Dave Kelly’s office show almost 40,000 Perth households use more than 500kl of water a year, double the average (240kl).

Typically, Perth’s biggest water users are from Perth’s affluent suburbs, such as Peppermint Grove, Dalkeith, City Beach and Mount Claremont.

Gooseberry Hill, Bedfordale, Darlington, Henley Brook and Iluka also feature in the Government’s list of heavy users.

Mr Kelly said while water guzzlers accounted for just 7 per cent of households, they made up 17 per cent of Perth’s total water consumption.

“This equates to 27 billion litres,” he said.

“That is two billion litres more water than the Water Corporation banks on each year from rainfall run-off into our dams.”

Under the Government’s new pricing structure, to be revealed in Thursday’s State Budget, the first 150kl will be charged at $1.78/kl, $2.37 for consumption up to 500kl, and anyone using more than 500kl will be slugged $4.44/kl.

Mr Wyatt said this week he hoped higher prices for the biggest water users would prompt these households to use the precious resource more wisely.

He warned that if that did not happen, it was more than likely within the next few years that WA would be hit with a $1billion bill to fund a new desalination plant, in addition to current facilities at Binningup and Kwinana.

“What we need to do is make decisions around usage to hopefully delay and push out the need for a new capital investment for a new water source,” Mr Wyatt said.

“Dave Kelly has raised with me a few times that he has received advice that potentially in the next five years we will need to move to planning for a new desalination plant.

“So therefore we need to make decisions to push that out as far as possible around usage.

“Although this (price increase) only applies to about 7 per cent of water users, these are suburbs who still use a hell of a lot of water.

“I’m not expecting this as a revenue initiative. Ideally, what we want out of this is usage of water to decline.

“I am expecting behavioural change will eliminate any revenue expectations, which is fine if we can push out the need for a big capital spend for a new water source.”

Mr Wyatt said the water measures and a $28 increase to the Emergency Services Levy to help fund the Rural Fire Service were the only substantial hikes in household fees and charges.

“We have made a particular effort to keep the increases to a minimum,” he said.

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Original Article

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Water saving tips while NSW waits for rain

Buckets in the shower, jeans in the freezer and greywater on the garden. New South Wales hasn’t had rain in near 16 weeks, and regional residents are watching what remains in their tanks.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology rainfall has been well below average for northern New South Wales, and winter as a whole has been exceptionally dry.

UNSW Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Stuart Khan suggested water saving tips to help residents through the next few hot weeks.

“It’s always important to be thrifty with water, even when it’s plentiful, no matter the season,” he said.

“There are plenty of methods householders can use to save water and save the garden at the same time.”

Where to put your buckets

Mr Khan suggested saving water in buckets as a clever method of recycling.

He said the bucket in the kitchen sink could save your lawn.

“Washing vegetables in a bucket is a good way to do it, especially if there is soil on the potatoes. That excess soil contains nutrients that will help your plants during the dry seasons,” he said.

Other than a bucket in the shower and sinks around your home, Mr Khan said most other water catching methods would require a little more plumbing.

“Stick the kids in the one bath tub, be prepared for the water to get a little dirty, but don’t be afraid to re-use it,” he said.

Mr Khan suggested households should clean their gutters out now for when the rain does eventually arrive.

“The best way to collect water is from your roof, and measures should be taken to manage the quality of the water you catch,” he said.

Will the garden have to wait?

From specialised mulch to ecofriendly detergents, Mr Khan said there were plenty of options to keep your garden thriving.

“Don’t water your garden in the heat of the day, wait until the early evening as that will reduce water loss by evaporation,” he said.

“Putting mulch above the soil to keep the water in the dirt, pull out your weeds as they compete for water and nutrition.”

Although a little more costly, Mr Khan suggests grey water as the best form of recycling.

“You can actually plumb in a system to harness the grey water at your property also,” he said.

“You can collect the excess water from your shower, washing and dishwashing machine that can be used legally and safely for subsurface irrigation.

“Some detergents contains nitrogen and phosphorus.”

Waitlist for water

Coffs Coast Water Cartridge owner Richard Macmillan said he would like to see residents in the region being more clever with their water and planning in advance.

“There are certainly a lot of people who find it surprising how quickly they get through water when they are using tanks having previously lived off town water,” he said.

“Invariably, those people who have lived in the regions on tank water are more prepared than those new folk who move to the region.

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“We live in a time where we watch our weather apps so closely, that should alert people to how much rain is on the way and how closely they need to watch their water.”

Mr Macmillan said he has a two-week waiting list for water orders around the north coast.

“When people run out of water, they need to call us and we are running out of water up and down the coast,” he said.

“There hasn’t been any respite anywhere.

“Colleagues in Nambucca Valley are booked out until the beginning of November.”

Mr Macmillan said during these dry months it was important to work as a community.

“Shower together, shower only once a week, don’t drink it, buy bottled water and check on your neighbours.”

You might be saving more water than you think

As we wait for rain, Mr Khan said we needed to be reminded that Australians are fantastic water savers.

“Things like dual-flush toilets, water efficient shower heads and washing machines all reduce our water footprint,” he said.

“After the drought between 2003 and 2009 finished, the State Government expected to see the water use pattern jump back to where it was previously, and it never happened.

“So we are already a few steps ahead of where we were when we previously considered how to save water around the home.”

Read more: Original Article

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Smart tech helps SA Water manage water network

South Australian utility SA Water says it has proven the role of advanced smart technology in managing an underground water network, to proactively identify and repair potential leaks and breaks before they escalate and affect customers and commuters.

According to SA Water, the first stage of its smart water network integrated more than 400 sensors across the Adelaide Central Business District, preventing 15 water main breaks or leaks since monitoring and collecting data began in July 2017.

Ahead of the Ozwater’18 conference in Brisbane, the smart network program’s architect, SA Water’s Manager of Water Assets, Dr Helen Edmonds, said the deployment was the largest in Australia.

“The combination and volume of sensors installed across the water network in Adelaide hasn’t been seen before, and is delivering outcomes and learnings that will be applicable right across the country,” she said.

“As engineers, we’ve been immersed in rich data that’s helping us make informed decisions, but as South Australians striving to deliver a world-class service for our customers, we’re making vital inroads to delivering a better customer experience.

“Although our network performance is among the best in Australia, we know that any water main break or service interruption has an impact on our customers, and we want to reduce that as much as possible.

“Identifying a potential leak and intervening has been hugely rewarding, but there’s also been a sense of accomplishment in analysing the data and understanding the immediacy of some sudden ruptures that didn’t offer any warning signals.”

Edmonds said the data was collected through 305 acoustic leak detection sensors, 34 pressure sensors of which 23 are transient loggers, 11 flow meters, three water quality monitors, and 100 smart meters on customer connections. The information is transmitted over long-term evolution and narrow band technologies to an analytics platform, at 5 to 15 minute intervals.

The acoustic sensors — or accelerometers — cover an average range of 150 metres and monitor around 50% of the water main network in the Adelaide CBD, with a focus on cast iron pipes in areas where the potential customer impact of a break is greater.

“The music of the network tells us a story, but the art and science of this combine in the algorithms we’ve built to filter an evolving leak from typical water usage sounds and the background noise of a busy city street,” Edmonds said.

She said insights had been gathered on the forces within and outside the network that could contribute to faults, such as pressure transients arising from customer activity.

“One of the transient loggers detected a recurring event with a consistent hydraulic character, happening on the same day and time, every week, and it turned out to be the result of a large building’s fire service being tested.

“Having this information meant we could work together with the building owner to calm the weekly testing process, and also with the technical regulator to amend design standards for future builds.

“Importantly, it means the customer will have far less chance of a water main break right outside their building, and the interruption this would cause their operations.”

An online portal allows smart meter customers to monitor their own water usage, but Edmonds said significant benefits had been realised by SA Water staff identifying abnormalities in customers’ consumption.

“We were able to alert a customer to 100 litres a minute being lost by a faulty float valve constantly refilling their building’s header tank, and the excess water just overflowing into the sewer. Left undetected until their next bill, the water loss alone in that case would have cost over $15 000 a month.”

Edmonds said the implementation had been so successful that further rollouts were planned later this year across both water and wastewater networks.

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Warning water rate rise to drain hip pockets

A Melbourne-based legal centre has flagged concerns about plans by Gippsland Water to raise its rates by two per cent following a submission to the Essential Services Commission.

Gippsland Water’s proposal, part of a review into water companies across the state, revealed it was one of only a handful of service providers in Victoria planning to increase its annual rates over the five-year regulatory period.

According to the Consumer Action Law Centre, the increase means residential owner-occupier bills could increase by $40 in the first year.

Consumer Action Law Centre policy officer Patrick Sloyan said the rise could hurt the hip-pocket of vulnerable and low-income families and individuals across the region.

“In the first year there’s a bit of a jump, it’s just over $40 more each year for an owner-occupier and then in the following four years it raises by $8 each year,” Mr Sloyan said.

“This is what Gippsland Water proposed to the ESC and the regulator has amended Gippsland Water’s slightly and reduced the revenue requirement that Gippsland Water can make through water prices.”

Earlier in the month community members had the opportunity to voice their concerns at a forum run by the Essential Services Commission.

“One lady jumped out and she was living on Centrelink payments. She’s a Moe resident who owns her own home and she was really worried about the price rises and what that might mean for her,” Mr Sloyan said.

“Obviously water bills are generally not the most expensive bills but in the scheme of perhaps rising council rates and energy prices it all adds up.

“We’re concerned that these price rises will make life tough for individuals and families in the Valley. We would like prices to remain flat or falling if possible.”

The ESC proposed reducing the price increase originally proposed by Gippsland Water in its draft decision which is still open for review.

Gippsland Water managing director Sarah Cumming said the rate rise was due to “rising electricity costs and a changing socio-economic climate”.

“While these place upward pressure on bills, we have, and continue to work hard to find smarter ways of doing business so we keep prices stable,” Ms Cumming said.

“Our customers depend on us to deliver safe and reliable water and sewerage services. As a state-owned and local water corporation, our submission only reflects the costs necessary to maintain a sustainable business.”

A final decision on water rate prices will be released by the ESC in June.

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Original Article

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Brisbane weather: Rain, storms ahead of wet weekend

ISOLATED heavy showers are expected to continue around the southeast for the next few hours, after several regions received a soaking.

Churchbank Weir, south of Ipswich, received 58mm of rain since 9am, with 50mm of that falling in just half an hour.

Similar conditions were seen on the Sunshine Coast at Bald Knob, which received 59mm since 9am – 48mm of which fell in half an hour.

Bureau of Meteorology’s Michael Paech said isolated showers were likely to continue for the rest of the afternoon.

“We will see a bit of isolated activity around before weakening this evening into the odd shower around,” he said.

Brisbane saw falls of around 10mm today ahead of a forecast wet weekend for the state.

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