Davis, J. (2018, August 10). ‘It’s a disgrace’: Angry farmers call for access to recycled water. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-08-11/farmers-angry-about-loss-of-recycled-water/10106064
In Melbourne, Australia, a pipeline pumps approximately 350 million litres of Class A recycled water out to sea every day. The quality of the water being pumped out is good enough to irrigate crops fields. Many farmers are angry at the government for not transporting the recycled water to their farms and investing the money elsewhere. Mayor of the city says that federal and state governments should work together to fund the infrastructure to get recycled water up to the agricultural fields. South Australia is well on this project as they began the Virginia Pipeline Scheme doing just this.
I thought it was interesting to read about Australia’s struggle with droughts as it’s very similar to the struggles we’ve has here in California. While searching for similar articles about recycled water use and drought in Australia, I did not find that they have experienced wildfires like California. Their true problem is money and moving recycled water that is produced in the city to farmland. I think that if the water being produced is not potable drinking water for people, then it shouldn’t be produced in the city. I’m almost certain Australia has a yearly budget for projects like most other places so if they are spending money on the pipes to transport water, they could invest and build a plant closer to farmland.
This is interesting because of the way it relates to California, there are a lot of problems surrounding the droughts and it shows that we need to take better care of our environment.
Yes! Thanks for the comment.
I thought that this was interesting that countries like Australia are taking steps to recycle their water and put it to better use. Do you think governments should be required to spend money on environmental projects like the Virginia pipeline scheme?
That’s really intriguing, I agree with your analysis as well. As for the first part, about the recycling, what exactly would that include? Recycling alternatives, like compostable or plant-based containers? It’d be interesting to see what they come up with.
The most interesting part to me is the evident parallels to California considering the wildfires and the drought. Are these parallels because of climate, environment, or other factors?