Vena McGrath, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Blogs by Vena McGrath
Saturday 3 March 2007 - 10.51 AM Sydney Australia 3/2/2007 3:36:18 PM
Our water supply Having just done a bit of research about the water supplies in our dams, particularly Warragamba, I found some interesting results. In the last month we have had quite a bit of rain compared to the last few years. It's been wonderful, although like always, most of the water runs down into the storm water drains or lies around our yards. Finally there is a lot of the green stuff around (grass) and plants are looking very happy. The weeds are growing like wildfire and the ground underfoot is like treading on a sponge, instead of like treading on concrete as it has been for such a long time.
Warragamba Dam, the main supplier of water for Sydney, is located near the Blue Mountains, a short drive south of Penrith. Whenever we have rain it rarely seems to fall in the catchment area and in spite of flash flooding around Sydney in the past weeks, and the change to the soil in our yards, once again the catchment hasn't caught much of it.
Warragamba Dam is now holding 39.310% of capacity, which means if we didn't get any rain for the next few years it would be empty by 12/7/2010! A daunting thought. I wonder though if those statistics take into account all the planned new housing developments where the majority of the homes will have two or more bathrooms, a laundry and kitchen plus a pool. I guess with the advent of new laws regarding water harvesting requirements in new homes, and for pools, they may have worked the figures out close to what they will be. However, no matter how many water harvesting tanks we have in and around our properties, if there is no rain then they will be of zero use.
In the last month - February 2007, the water level of Warragamba Dam rose from 889 gigalitres to 972.5 gigalitres. To fill the dam, it will take 700mm of rain every fortnight until 9/8/2008. In a land like we live in, that seems way off the beam and not possible.
I have seen Warragamba full and overflowing once in my lifetime. However that only means that once I have actually been interested enough to go out there for a look. It was during the last 16 years but I don't have a clue when it was. There was so much water banked up behind the wall that they made a decision to let a huge amount of water loose over the spillway and into the Nepean River because of the fear that the wall could not sustain the pressure long-term. It was an amazing sight, and a sad one too, to see all that water going down the gurgler, although I am sure the river reaped a benefit from the extra clean water. Because of all the development along the river they would have had to be very careful how much water was let loose due to the risk of flooding communities.
Our rivers out from the city in country areas are suffering hugely from the drought conditions, and some of the farms along those rivers are also sucking them dry. As far as I'm concerned cotton farming should be outlawed in Australia as our country is too arid for that type of farming and we cannot continue to sustain an industry that uses so much of the precious water that is needed to keep humans and animals alive. To visit rivers such as the Namoi in the North West of New South Wales is frightening, and indeed sad. Where once the river flowed in its beauty and the fish flourished along with the bird life, there is now a trickle of water in comparison. An yet, on the cotton farming properties along that river, you will see huge catchments of water. I believe some of these farmers are negotiating to sell some of the water back to the Government! What a rort. They pump it out of the river and then sell it back. The once great rivers of the State are now a mere shadow of themselves with soil erosion, dying trees, and dying land that no longer has flood waters to bring it to life.
So what is the future of water supplies in Sydney? Hard to say. The Government is procrastinating as per the usual about desalination plants and recycled sewer. No matter what they do it will cost a fortune to set homes up for recycled water (or I would assume it will considering how many homes there are in Sydney). We are promised further water restrictions if the dam level reaches 30%. At the moment we are restricted to Wednesdays and Sundays for watering (hand held hoses only). No watering of paths or driveways or buildings. Car washing is by bucket only. It's a bit hard to expect plants to survive on water twice a week when the sun in summer is shining for so many hours a day and the heat is unbelievable. Yet who has the energy to lug around a bucket or a watering can in the heat?
Today, after another good load of rain during the week, is hot and humid. The wetness of the ground of course makes the humidity worse, or appears to. I've been doing a bit of housework and the perspiration was dripping off my hair onto the floor and into my eyes, where it stings like heck. Interesting how much salt is in our body fluids.
Shaye is going to have his first mobile doggie bath today and he is also scheduled to have his nails clipped and the hair under his feet. He really is a carpet doggie with very hairy feet that he patters around in. I imagine the hair makes him more unstable on tiles too as he is unable to sit on the tiles without sliding into a lying down position. We went to doggie school on Tuesday and for the first 1/2 hour he wasn't too bad. After that he just decided he had had enough, and laid on his back, legs in the air, refusing to get up. He had a bit of a limp before we went, so I figured his leg was sore. I've decided to only go for 1/2 hour a week because I see no point if it's not fun for either of us and I don't expect him to turn into an obedient robot anyhow. It's interesting to see that he is more obedient for my son than he is for me.
