Bottled water
Humans are the smartest animals ever to roam the Earth. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who disagrees with this statement. Unfortunately, in Australia it would almost be equally as difficult to find anyone who would not be prepared to purchase 600mL of bottled water for anywhere between $1 and $4! Not only does this make absolutely no sense when compared to the price of water from the tap, but it is also a terrible thing to do for our environment.
Bottled water must first be pumped out of the ground (easy enough), then must be purified (potentially wasting some), bottled (potentially spilling some, plus water is used in creating the bottles out of petrochemicals), this water is then transported all over Australia; unnecessarily using fossil fuels, all to get you the water which you could otherwise have got straight out of your tap.
Won’t someone else deal with it?
We live in a time of either ‘someone else will deal with it’, or ‘they’ll think of a solution when it becomes a real problem’. Both of these statements are potentially damaging to the environment now and into the future. Despite Australia’s HUGE potential to move towards the use of renewable energies from solar, wind or geothermal, we still burn coal, fitting into the ‘they’ll think of a solution when it becomes a real problem’ view of the world. Many people are awakening to the issues associated with our coal use, but what about our water use?
As the smartest animal to ever roam the earth, we also flush our toilets with drinkable water, take long showers, show great pride in our water thirsty gardens.
We need more water right? The idea of a desalinisation plant seems to be the perfect solution.To many people desalinisation plants seem like the silver bullet solution to our current water crisis. Just as we are producing too much CO2, we are also using too much water. But let’s unpack the idea of a desalinisation plant.
Desalinisation, the silver bullet?
Salts in the ocean come from weathering of rocks and are transported into the ocean by rivers. If these salts can be removed from sea water, we are left with two things; drinking water and a salty (and potentially toxic) brine. The removal of these salts is done in a desalinisation plant. Unfortunately; desalinisation plants are expensive to build and need a steady energy supply to desalinise water. Desalinisation of water will cause the cost of water to increase (not to mention the possible impact on the local ecosystems). Surely there are alternatives before we go down the path of expensive, costly desalinisation plants.
So what can we do?
I am not saying that I am against desalinisation plants for major cities and towns, but there is a more logical first step. CONSERVATION. Take a look at your daily water usage. Do you have a water saving shower head, a dual flush toilet, do you have any dripping taps? Or, think about your diet. Wasting food (particularly meat) is a waste of water. Throwing away that grain fed chicken is a big deal. We used to feed chickens scraps that we could not eat. We now feed them grain (which is seen as a marketing tool) which we could have otherwise eaten!
Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth. If you don’t like the idea of shorter showers, think about that next time you are in the shower. Or that some farmers cannot grow food for you to eat through lack of water. You will get out quick smart. Trust me.
Water is too precious in this time of drought. Don’t drag your feet, ACT NOW.
How do I know this?
Archer, J. 2005, Twenty Thirst Century – The Future of Water in Australia, Pure water press, Pearl Beach, NSW
Visit John’s website at http://www.johnarcher.com.au/
Flannery, T, 2005, The Weather Makers: The History & Future Impact of Climate Change,Text Publishing, Melbourne
Visit Tim’s website at http://www.theweathermakers.com/
Radcliffe, J 2007, Water in Australia, presentation given at Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia
Suzuki, D & Dressel H 2002, Good News for a Change – How everyday people are helping the planet, Greystone Books, Canada
Visit David’s website at www.davidsuzuki.org/
