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30 March 2008

Desalination Would Cost Too Much

Melbourne has been under permanent water restrictions for nearly two years. With a rising population, the restrictions are unlikely to lift. Currently, water can be used freely for drinking, washing, cooking and other inside-the-house uses, but watering of gardens is severely restricted. The Victorian state government is now planning to introduce more water pipelines and a desalination plant to guarantee the future water supply.

The government's current plans are just a knee-jerk reaction. We may be low on water, but that's no reason to introduce a costly and inefficient desalination plant. Surely it would be more efficient to pipe recycled water for large industrial users such as our La Trobe Valley power plants.

Recycled water is used for drinking in other parts of the world, in fact I've drunk it myself while living in London. On the world's driest continent I think we can learn to drink recycled water, just as we have learned to sweep our driveways rather than hosing them down.

Comment posted by Michelle at the age blog PotteringBy

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