Stage 3 Water Restrictions

Rob · 17-12-2006, 08:30 PM

Apparently, pools are no longer to be filled using a hose, we must now fill a bucket (presumably with a hose....), then tip it into the pool. Who makes that kind of rule?!!?!?!

Please explain..

bEAn86 · 17-12-2006, 08:33 PM

who would follow such a rule? i mean im sure they are policing it!

Falcon_Phill · 17-12-2006, 08:35 PM

What are you on about?? As if i mind filling up 670 buckets of water for my pool.

AU2PWR · 17-12-2006, 08:37 PM

man , in Victoria , By the Time you have filled the bucket and Put it in the pool , the other one is being filled and the one in the pool has Evaportated , or Been Stolen !

Outbackjack · 17-12-2006, 08:41 PM

I find it ironic that out here we live in the middle of a desert on the driest continent on earth and we have never had, or likely to have, water restrictions. Weird.

GCFordChic · 17-12-2006, 08:46 PM

I suppose it means they assume you will now do one of a few things:
(a) not bother because it is a pain and just keep swimming in a few cm less of water
(b) you wont be able to leave a hose in, forget about it and waste all that water that then goes out through the overflow system
(c) ring the company that charges alot to come out with a water truck and fill your pool up
(d) realise how much water you are putting in the pool because you have to use buckets, which will make you leave it longer until the next time you top it up.

We shouldnt just ignore the restrictions and do as we wish (bean86!) they are in place because we havent had much rain, the dams are not positioned in the best place for rain any more because of the changing climate and weather conditions, the population is expanding and people generally waste alot of water. It may seem like a stupid joke but all it takes is for you to look around to realise the grass is getting browner and the dirt is cracking.

The 'whatever' attitude means our water problem is only going to get worse.

Outbackjack · 17-12-2006, 08:53 PM

If this keeps up Australians will have to move north of the Berrima line. The Ord river has 20 times more water in it than Sydney harbour. The weather is better too.

GCFordChic · 17-12-2006, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

I find it ironic that out here we live in the middle of a desert on the driest continent on earth and we have never had, or likely to have, water restrictions. Weird.

Population density and lower rate of growth...?

flappist · 17-12-2006, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GCFordChic

Population density and lower rate of growth...?

Are you saying only dense people live in Alice Springs???? :P

We got washed away here (again)

AU1XLS · 17-12-2006, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GCFordChic

Population density and lower rate of growth...?

Or his growth is slow

Auslandau · 17-12-2006, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GCFordChic

Population density and lower rate of growth...?

It comes form the water basins under ground. More water there than.....well than lots of places.

Instead of just keep putting more and more restrictions on people, this is long term and it should be address. Its not going to go away. What is stage 6 restrictions?

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Outbackjack · 17-12-2006, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GCFordChic

Population density and lower rate of growth...?

I'll remember that!!!! :hihi:

GCFordChic · 17-12-2006, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by auslandau

Instead of just keep putting more and more restrictions on people, this is long term and it should be address. Its not going to go away. What is stage 6 restrictions?

Sure restrictions are not the solution but what do we do while they are planning the long term solutions? Just continue pouring it down the drain?

_

The attitude of so many people I know (auslandau im not directing this at you) is that it is the government's problem, not the individual's. :yeees:
"Why dont they get off their bums and find a solution?!" Then, as South East Queenslanders would know, the government develops a viable solution. But the very vocal people dont like it, the nasty government wants to buy some people's land to build another dam. But if one solution is not enough they have another, they can safely recycle water. Both have been shot down by our media and so the majority of people I know think they are terrible ideas and the government should find another because a few people will have to move house.

Meanwhile people continue to move to our area, they go ahead with the new land developments and we welcome hundreds of thousands of tourists a year. Unless individuals make changes RIGHT NOW, all of the individuals that make up our population will face even bigger hurdles in a few years. We cannot just wait for the government on this one, it truly is up to every individual to reduce their water usage.

Oh bugger caring, I'll just move next door to Outbackjack and revel in lack of water restrictions. YAY 20 minute showers again!!! :evilsasmo

Tote · 17-12-2006, 11:45 PM

It annoys me that the various governments trot out this "driest country in the world" hype every time water supplies run low to cover for years of insufficient planning and construction of infrastructure.
Every drop of rain that falls in Sydney runs straight into the sea, their main supply, Warragamba dam was built in 1960 when Sydney's population was one million less than it is now.
Canberra is no different, they have plenty of water but are reluctant to build the infrastructure to filter it after the bushfires. They had a water saving drive two years ago and had to put up the price of water because people weren't using enough of it.
The small town I live in had a new dam built in 1930 and the mayor proudly proclaimed it would serve the needs of the town for the next 40 years, well it still is, not quite as well though now that the population has doubled.
Once the pollies have done the "we all need to save water" line they trot out the story on how the rivers are dying because of irrigation which is an entirely different argument but it never hurts to make the people feel guilty so that instead of taking the hard decisions you can keep the developers happy and overload the existing systems even more.

Regards,
Tote

Auslandau · 18-12-2006, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GCFordChic

Sure restrictions are not the solution but what do we do while they are planning the long term solutions? Just continue pouring it down the drain?

_

The attitude of so many people I know (auslandau im not directing this at you) is that it is the government's problem, not the individual's. :yeees:

Yep, thats why I left that open and didnt mention the 'ol blame the g'ment tag. I dont have a solution but if there are some blame to be put it is the tree hugging 'No dam' peoples for starters......

As far as restrictions go, they do need to be inplace but it isnt long term, only short term, as sated where will it stop and how much restriction will be in place in a few years time...........?

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4.9 EF Futura · 18-12-2006, 12:25 PM

Good on you for defending the restrictions GCfordchic.

It seems most of us are - in principle - supportive of water restrictions... except when they, as individuals, are inconvinienced by them.

I would probably put the thought out there that, just maybe, there are more important uses for our scarce water resources than swimming pools. Im not saying one shouldnt be entitled to their pool, but it should be stocked via allowable methods - no matter how time consuming (or expensive in the case of water carts) it may be.

Somewhat amusing experience here in Adelaide. We recently went to the second stage of restrictions (first stage was quite relaxed and not too prescriptive) and water consumption went up. Seems that when you give people fixed times and uses, they will use every minute, every drop of water they are allowed to. This has acutally resulted in increased consumption, as people werent using every last drop that they were entitled to under the previous stage.

Ah stuff it, i'll just move to the Alice as well

XR-ENVI · 18-12-2006, 12:31 PM

sTAGE THREE- LIVE IT UP
STAGE FOUR ISNT MUCH FUN HERE IN GEELONG AND THEY ARE LOOKING AT EVEN MORE RESTRICTIONS, WHICH MEANS INVENTING STAGE FIVE!!!

XRchic · 18-12-2006, 01:23 PM

I water my lawn once per fortnight, on the correct day, at night etc, etc. I still feel guilty about it. I want to do the right thing, but I also dont want to lose my garden that it attached to the house I worked so hard to get. But I do know there are more important things than a garden, at stake.

According to engineers, the main problem in SA at least is that there are not enough reservoirs and the ones that are there do not hold enough anyway. Apparently other states were warned about this same issues 10 years ago and they just ignored it and didnt construct more reservoirs. Now they are paying the price. Especially since many of the north eastern areas of this country dont have access to the Murray.

I hope this drought ends soon.

Ralliart · 18-12-2006, 02:20 PM

since melb are s3 water Restrictions , i have to wash my car at shell now and really anooying, since there is no point doing with a bucket, it will take forever.

Jeeepers · 18-12-2006, 02:41 PM

And I recently bought a pressure wash to get around stage 2. Arghh... At least K'archer did well....

:

Outbackjack · 18-12-2006, 02:48 PM

I was talking to some of the metro guys out here this morning. The feeling is that this dry will last, at best, three more years. At worst 5 years. It will get much worse before it gets any better. I hope that they are wrong. The day will come when Sydney siders will be on bottles water only. Probably Melbourne as well. I was in the Gold Coast last week. It was peeing down with rain when I arrived. Does the Gold Coast have the same problems as Brisbane?? I heard that the GC dams are full.

janek · 18-12-2006, 02:51 PM

meh, we have level 4. you deal with it

botch · 18-12-2006, 02:55 PM

im doing my bit by not changing the coolant in my car on a regular basis

:

Outbackjack · 18-12-2006, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by botch

im doing my bit by not changing the coolant in my car on a regular basis

:

You put water in your car??? But seriuosly, its good to see you doing your bit.... :Reverend:

GCFordChic · 18-12-2006, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

I was talking to some of the metro guys out here this morning. The feeling is that this dry will last, at best, three more years. At worst 5 years. It will get much worse before it gets any better. I hope that they are wrong. The day will come when Sydney siders will be on bottles water only. Probably Melbourne as well. I was in the Gold Coast last week. It was peeing down with rain when I arrived. Does the Gold Coast have the same problems as Brisbane?? I heard that the GC dams are full.

Yeah it really poured down Saturday night and one night a few days before that. We have been lucky recently that we have had a bit of rainfall. According to our council the Hinze Dam is at 81.79% capacity (http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/t_gcw.asp?PID=1638).

However, Brisbane is wanting to steal, sorry purchase, water from the GC by building a whopping great pipeline to suck us dry, uh i mean share around a little water. I fear that the rainfall and the dam level will make people complacent. Then in another few years we will be in the situation we were in previously where the dam was at something like 20%. People want the restrictions lifted completely. That is the community being short-minded, not just the government.

When the state water council (or whatever their name is) decided to build a new dam, that idea was shot down. Why not recycle water? Well everyone decided recycled water is just human waste mixed with some water, so that was shot down aswell. Take water from a relatively small dam which services the increasing and fluctuating population of the Gold Coast. Hey, why not?!

It is so hard to care when so many people are apathetic.

Outbackjack · 18-12-2006, 03:56 PM

Apathy is a great Australian tradition. :togo: Out here, although they say we have about 100 years of water at the current usage, they are planning to put water back into bores that were tapped up to 100 years ago. That is, they are starting to pump treated sewage water into the old bores. They reckon that in 100 year from now they will be able to re tap the bores and get pure water again. I hope that this goes ahead. One of those rare ocasions where our polititions can see past luch time.

Bill_R · 18-12-2006, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GCFordChic

Meanwhile people continue to move to our area, they go ahead with the new land developments

All new developments, regardless of what or where they are should be required to install rainwater tanks. that at least makes a start. Switch to a mains when the tank level is low.

I'm only 20 km south of the GC and we have no restrictions at all. I kinda feel guilty about washing the car but I do it. I drove it around the block and let the rain rinse it on Saturday. By the sound of it I'll be able to do that again later this week.
Even though we are in a drought I don't think we have a water shortage. I think we have a "water supply problem".
We need to think about this ridiculous system we have in place. Pump treated sewage inland to farms (it's a nutrient ffs). Look at collecting as much water as we can locally. Look for better storage systems with less evaporation. Use stormwater - these are the modern-day Creeks and rivers. Desalination - maybe - energy intensive. These are all proposals I studied over 20 years ago and very little progress has been made.

There was mention in this thread or another about using washing machine water for washing a car - I wouldn't. Dump it onto citrus trees and you'll get the best oranges or lemons ever.

Outbackjack · 18-12-2006, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill_R

All new developments, regardless of what or where they are should be required to install rainwater tanks. that at least makes a start. Switch to a mains when the tank level is low.

When we built our house in Brisbane (Ormiston) I wanted to install a rain water tank. The council threatend us with great big levies on our rates if we installed one. That was back in 99. Now the state gov gives rebates if you install one. It will never cease to amaze me how the people with the lowset IQ go into local councils. No amount of reasoning on my part could convince them that it was a good idea. As this is a investment property it will never get a water tank installed now. This one less property that will be able to lower their reliance on our precious resource.

Bill_R · 18-12-2006, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

When we built our house in Brisbane (Ormiston) I wanted to install a rain water tank. The council threatend us with great big levies on our rates if we installed one. That was back in 99. Now the state gov gives rebates if you install one. It will never cease to amaze me how the people with the lowest IQ go into local councils. No amount of reasoning on my part could convince them that it was a good idea. As this is a investment property it will never get a water tank installed now. This one less property that will be able to lower their reliance on our precious resource.

Yeah, I've heard of the same. Amazing isn't it! I think that when I was growing up the local council wouldn't allow rainwater tanks at all. We had sewerage tanks for years that had to be pumped out.

Other thoughts:
The best vegetables I've ever grown were about 20 m down from an absorption trench at a property I lived on. The grass and pines near there grew like crazy.

A lecturer I had (adviser to the Canadian Govt on Energy Policy) had sewerage flow through an absorption trench and then into a river. They had almost pure water going into the river. They planted a commercial crop of pines between the trench and the river and got a cash crop from it.

We can do all of this and more.

Rob · 18-12-2006, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4.9 EF Futura

Good on you for defending the restrictions GCfordchic.

It seems most of us are - in principle - supportive of water restrictions... except when they, as individuals, are inconvinienced by them.

Dont get me wrong, I think water restrictions are important, and I agree with them for the most part, but using buckets to fill up a pool? There are some aspects of it that are ridiculous.