Apr - 2007 Recycling Our Liquid Resources
Australia is fast becoming one of the driest continents on the planet, with water shortages and drought stricken farmlands now in the forefront of our news headlines on a regular basis.
As an expert in the plumbing industry, it is important for you and your customers to understand the concept of water recycling and the processes involved to make it safe. Over the next few issues of Outlet, we'll keep you across the ongoing water recycling debate and the strategies various states are putting in place to take the pressure off water reservoirs.
It's important to educate your customers on the importance of water saving as they too can do their bit to maintain our supply. Talk to them about how households can work towards saving our precious drinking water and keep them informed about the real facts of recycled water. To put our current water crisis into perspective, roughly 26% of Australia's surface water supply is classified as being close to or exceeding the sustainable extraction limits.
This is certainly the case in Victoria, where 89% of the current water usage comes from rivers and reservoirs in the region. In some parts, the demand is expected to overrun the supply within seven years.
With concerning facts like these, Australia has had to start thinking about ways of saving large amounts of water in homes, industry and farming to ensure we still have this precious resource in the next 50 years. Solutions such as 'water reuse' and 'water recycling' for both drinking and general use are being raised by State Government's as the key to combating the issue. In the case of Victoria, a draft plan on the implementation of recycled water has suggested that treated water and stormwater could save an additional 150 billion litres of water in the state (source: Melbourne Water).
As an expert in the plumbing industry, it is important for you and your customers to understand the concept of water recycling and the processes involved to make it safe. Over the next few issues of Outlet, we'll keep you across the ongoing water recycling debate and the strategies various states are putting in place to take the pressure off water reservoirs.
It's important to educate your customers on the importance of water saving as they too can do their bit to maintain our supply. Talk to them about how households can work towards saving our precious drinking water and keep them informed about the real facts of recycled water. To put our current water crisis into perspective, roughly 26% of Australia's surface water supply is classified as being close to or exceeding the sustainable extraction limits.
This is certainly the case in Victoria, where 89% of the current water usage comes from rivers and reservoirs in the region. In some parts, the demand is expected to overrun the supply within seven years.
With concerning facts like these, Australia has had to start thinking about ways of saving large amounts of water in homes, industry and farming to ensure we still have this precious resource in the next 50 years. Solutions such as 'water reuse' and 'water recycling' for both drinking and general use are being raised by State Government's as the key to combating the issue. In the case of Victoria, a draft plan on the implementation of recycled water has suggested that treated water and stormwater could save an additional 150 billion litres of water in the state (source: Melbourne Water).
In other states such as NSW, water recycling schemes have already been put in place that now recycle around 15 billion litres of treated wastewater each year across greater Sydney. The Queensland Government has also introduced a water recycling initiative, encouraging industries and the community to get involved with recycling opportunities. Plans also exist to implement recycled water for uses other than drinking and bathing, such as watering gardens and community facilities.
Two Australian towns, Toowoomba on the Darling Downs in Queensland and Goulburn in southern NSW, have taken this one step further asking their residents to accept that about a quarter of their drinking water will now come from recycled water. Whilst there are a few examples of recycled water for drinking overseas, this will be a first for Australia.
The South Australian Government has plans in place to 'water proof' Adelaide, introducing 63 specific strategies to be implemented by 2025. This includes maximising the use of urban stormwater in the form of water recycling. Stay tuned for the next installment in the water recycling series, which will look at the current debate of water recycling for drinking and how it is made safe.