Are You A Water Saver?

[eMsta]

its always about money!!

(ps- recustoms? i was there on tuesday.. came by to c some rims, u work there?)

nah - i dont work there. I get all my mods and servicing done there....

[khunjeng]

I'm surprised Bracks isn't behind wanting to tax tank water, but since the corrupt wanker can't take the money directly then it just HAS to be a bad idea.

The fundamental issue for me is just how much rain water is wasted by the state governments. Built up areas create massive runoff due to non-porous surfaces like roofs and roads/carparks. All that water generally goes straight down the drain and into the rivers and oceans when it could quite simply be collected and pumped to treatment areas.

Perth saw the problems coming 5-10 years ago and have a de-salination plant so water is not yet an issue. Every other capital is clamping down on water usage but have not yet started to build waste recycling and de-salination plants. Typical Labour governments. Can't find a way to increase revenue so they ignore it.

thats basically the issue.

And we (victoria) voted them in...again. Blame yourselfs.

Jeff would have started numerous projects by now, sure his kick backs would have been his driver...but at least something would have happened by now.

[SteveL]

water tanks are Water tanks are already mandatory for new dwellings and most renovations...............

Only 'sort of' correct.....you have the choice of installing a new water tank (min 1000L from memory) OR a solar hot water system in a new dwelling, but one or the other is mandatory. Of course, most go for a water tank as it's cheaper.

We've had 2 water tanks (500L + 1000L) for 10+ years, and I'll be installing another 1000L tank before winter to supply our 2 toilets.

[ToF]

HEY REKIN, just a quick question which is your car in your signiture, the yellow or the black, both look good.

LOL if that was a dig at his car, it was pretty lame.

[eMsta]

HEY REKIN, just a quick question which is your car in your signiture, the yellow or the black, both look good.

bahahahahaha...what the f......the yellow thing at the back aint a car man...ahhahahaha......

[AlexCim]

Here is some information on energy/water etc

ENSO, aka, El Nino Southern Oscilation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENSO

Nuclear Power Plant - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_plant

Delsalination plants - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination_plant

As you can see, getting water simply from NZ as mentioned above is not that easy, as the ENSO affects pretty much the entire west pacific, including NZ.

As far as industry using the most water we have available, I agree. But think of it this way. Businesses need to use water to continue to operate. Operation means they make a profit. This profit it paid to employees as salaries. A restriction on water use for many businesses could mean a need to cut costs as they do not have the same output. The best cut in costs is the replacement of people you need to pay, with robots you buy once. This means an increase in the umemployement rate, increase in people on the dole, decrease in living standards for many, angry voters, etc etc etc

The best idea for water management is not desalination, as desalination is the most "oh, no shit thats a good idea" solution but is VERY energy expensive. The recycling of water is the best solution. I hate hearing that poeople say they dont want to wash their cars at commercial car washes because they use recycled water, but trust me when I say this, it is VERY clean water, in many cases more than tap water. Business wont jeapordize themselves using poor quality water. Seriously. Its like macca's using the lowest quality ingredients, they simply dont.

Recycling water is the best because most of the water used isnt even polluted. Think about taking a shower, of the 11L you use a minute, how much is dirty/full of chemicals etc. Even after a shower, its still very clean water.

As far as the person who said that desal plants produce greenhouse gasses, sorry, I dont understand where in the process they do as they pretty much involve the pushing of pressuized water through membranes that filter the water, how does that make greenhouse gasses? Maybe via the use of a lot of energy? Well, that would be solved via the use of Nuclear power.

But you think Nuclear power is bad? Think about it. Its the best solution we have at the moment, and specially in a place like Aus with its crapload of uranium, why WOULDNT we do it. There is a slight risk with meltdowns etc, but this isnt late 80's Russia where you were always out to impress someone. Chernobyl melted down because of beauocracy, not because of Nuclear Power. Nuclear waste is easy to dispose of. Dig a hole, put it in. Sorry but I see this as a MUCH better alternative to the tons and tons of gas being let off in the air with carbon based power generation.

Yeah, solar panels sound like a great idea, but mate do you know how inefficient they are. Its something like the best panels in the world convert 16 or 20% of the solar energy into electricity. Not to mention they are also HELL enpensive. For example, on eBay, for some solar panels, its $4,000 for ~500W of electricty (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/6x-85W-Suntech-Solar-Panel-12V-Huge-510W-System_W0QQitemZ330071867355QQihZ014QQcategoryZ78859QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem). So that means that my $4000 worth of solar panels will light up about 6-10 incandecent globes in my house? Not to mention, I use the electricity at night, meaning I need to pay for the batteries to store all this energy (PS. Big batteries are not cheap).

In my view, the future of energy generation for the short term is Nuclear Power, with Wind generated power being the most feasable. Specially off shore wind farms built on islands in the pacific or something like that. Interesting read -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power

[paulr33]

and here i was thinking chernobly melted down because the backup systems used its own generated power, thus when the main power failed, the backup systems did because they used its own power

[AutoTrust]

Interesting topic this,

Seeing as you can't wash your car at all now even using a pressure washer, I use three buckets or so of bath and shower water through the Karcher and one bucket of fresh water to rinse off.

Having a house on a slab sucks for grey water reclamation.

Use less water where you can.

[AlexCim]

and here i was thinking chernobly melted down because the backup systems used its own generated power, thus when the main power failed, the backup systems did because they used its own power

Chernobyl did not melt down because it was a random situation where the backup power was needed after an emergency, rather plant operators were conducting a test on the back up generators to make sure they were able to activate in time to support the plant (as previously they were not able to)

During the test, plant operators performed several specific actions that compounded to cause the meltdown of the plant. My earlier reference to 80's Russia was specifically that many of the operators of the plant were not even trained in nuclear stations, safety procedures/features were ignored/turned off during the test, limits were pushed to impress visiting governement officials, etc. Coming from an ex-communisnt eastern european country, its still even evident these days when returning on visits that this mentality is around.

Now lets think about Nuclear power in Australia:

* Properly trained plant management

* Safety procedures stuck to like shit to a blanket

* No need to impress anyone here, everything is done within limits

* Highest quality materials used in manufacturing of plant

* Best materials/supplies used for the running of the plant

* List goes on

So uh, yeh. Nuclear power FTW

[foznice]

Interesting topic this,

Seeing as you can't wash your car at all now even using a pressure washer, I use three buckets or so of bath and shower water through the Karcher and one bucket of fresh water to rinse off.

Having a house on a slab sucks for grey water reclamation.

Use less water where you can.

Thats not a bad idea. How do you run it into the karcher? I was always under the impression that under normal operation water is fed to the karcher via the pressure from the tap...

or does the karcher 'suck' it from a bucket or somthing?

I don't like going to the carwash...

[wreckedhead]

bahahahahaha...what the f......the yellow thing at the back aint a car man...ahhahahaha......

" the yellow thing at the back aint a car man """ no shit sherlock, of course its not a car what do you think this is a planet of bin driving morons, I was being sarcastic in my comments.

[foznice]

ahahahahahahahahah

[Rekin]

[Kylie]

Hi All,

On the 23 January 2007, Safeway will be donating its entire

supermarket's profits for the day to the drought relief. The funds

will primarily be used by the CWA for immediate support for rural

families with the remainder to help fund research into sustainable

farming practices. This is expected to be in excess of $3 million

dollars.

So if you do your normal shopping on the 23 January you will be

helping farming families who are currently doing it tough

http://www.woolworths.com.au/woolworths+ce...ght+reflief.asp

[adznight]

Hey thats a good deal huh! Way to go Safeway!

That reminds me, hired a place down Philip Island for NYE and young girls behind the counter reminded me about the "shower with a friend" idea Mav , Bec and I almost made 2 new friends!

[The Baron]

The times they are'a changing.

Basically you can look forward to having to reduce water consumption by something like 80% over the next decade or so. Recycled water will become a part of daily life - Heck City West Water are already running the pipeline for industrial users from Werribee to Altona.

Nuclear Power is the biggest Furphy on energy in a long time. The Switkowski report suggested 25 reactors for Australia by 2025. If we assume there is a population of about 25 million by then this means 1 reactor per 1 million people or about 5 of the beasts for Melbourne. They would have to be near the coast and near the city to be useful - now can you think of any place where they could put them ?? Just look at the hassle they get for a couple of wind turbines - now imagine putting 5 nuclear reactors around Melbourne. Simply won't happen.

Instead we'll be asked to reduce energy consumption (and rightly so) and hopefully we'll all get used to putting some solar panels on the roof.

BTW Looks like the 2008 Prius will have a 'solar roof' to assist in charging a 'plug in' hybrid system.

If you are skeptical on all of this- there is plenty of knowledge out there. It's really an engineering question - how much water is there, how much can we capture therefore how much can we use.

[Kylie]

I have no problem drinking recycled water....

[adznight]

Depends who's been showering

[Bec]

That reminds me, hired a place down Philip Island for NYE and young girls behind the counter reminded me about the "shower with a friend" idea Mav , Bec and I almost made 2 new friends!

Hahaha - save water, shower with a friend!!!

[adznight]

Hahaha - save water, shower with a friend!!!

How funny was the look on thier faces when I sugested a rotation scheme!