Prof. Peter Cullen recently delivered the Schultz oration. Listening to the podcast of that talk really got me thinking:
- I should think before launching into ‘those mongrels upstream are wasting our water’ conversations that seem to pop up quite frequently (maybe we should think about taking the high ground of fixing issues in our own back yard – like Adelaide plains groundwater)
- S.A. (driest state, driest continent etc…) has only 1 year’s reserves of water, whereas other states have more than three. We must invest in infrastructure upgrades that spread the risk.
- QLD households currently use 140 litre/person/day, we use around 388.
- We have a good blueprint for action, it’s time to act. C’mon Government, Govern us, show some leadership, choose a Trainwreck and get on with it.
Trying to figure out likely future rainfall reminds me of trying to pick the stock market when only looking at a few day’s figures. Like Global warming, it’s really hard to be sure if our climate is drying up and at what rate. Whenver we get a decent rain it’s tempting to relax and thing she’ll be right. Even if we get several years of good rain we can still be in a long term cycle of dryer climate – which only gets worse with global warming.
Peter presents a rather pessimistic view of future rainfall. So what is the downside of acting too quickly on pessimistic predictions?
- We spend money upgrading infrastructure (that will need upgrading anyway) too soon.
The downside of doing nothing?
- Serious hardship for everybody.
As you listen to Peter you will understand this is a complex issue and there are many things that can and should be done. Cramming these interrelated complexities into soundbytes for the mass media and politicians is one of the factors that contributes to delayed or ineffective action. There is a great opportunity for deep, extended conversation using the tools of new media – blogs, podcasts etc. I am proud to be supporting Dr Paul Dalby as he facilitates such robust discussion through his LitFuse website. Get over there and get involved in the discussion.
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1 response so far ↓
1
George
// Dec 3, 2007 at 7:07 am
Mike
Interesting post. I listened to Peter Cullen talk about this probably four years ago now at a conference and found him interesting.
Queensland as you mentioned is in a bind. We have been pouring money into infrastructure, only because we are years behind the eight ball on supply anyway.
I note your 140 l/p/d rate in Queensland. Toowoomba where I live has been on level 5 water restrictions for years. Yet Brisbane is now on Level 6, yet their level six is still weaker than Toowoombas level five.
A critical element in all of this is 1) consistency and 2) the will of the elected politicians to stand up and say what needs to be done, and not pander to those who value their gardens more than their fellow man.
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