official complaining about the weather thread

[monotonehell]

given some countries re use black water in going to think that our storm water wouldn't be that bad.

It's not insurmountable, but a lot of how we go about doing things, how councils conduct storm flood mitigation, how the general public and businesses treat storm water drains as a liquid waste disposal service, how we pollute our minor water ways needs to be addressed.

Bottom line, all citizens need to change what were are doing and how we do it. That's a hard call.

If you're interested in the scope of the problem, there's an introduction that the DEH put out a few years ago. http://www.environment.gov.au/system/fi ... mwater.pdf

I'm sure we had a discussion of the subject on SA a few years ago, but I can't find it now.

Several councils have adopted some of the findings, but only as a filter to storm water discharges to the sea (wetland buffers for example). Ironically our waste water is "cleaner". Hence the purple pipes permeating our park lands, porting the previously pooey product.

[Hooligan]

To whoever changed the thread title i would take my hat off to you but i'm not wearing a hat. Or even pants for that matter.

I'm not sure why i told you all that.

[monotonehell]

To whoever changed the thread title i would take my hat off to you but i'm not wearing a hat. Or even pants for that matter.

I'm not sure why i told you all that.

Remind me to buy you a hat some day.

[Waewick]

I was thinking about this problem.

I wonder if we could beg the Feds to find a test site to Completely replace our water infrastructure in the cbd and inner suburbs.

Have drinking water seperated from toilet/ gardening water which isn't as clean.

Out would also mean the up grade of storm catchment to help recycle the water.

It would be a huge out lay, require massive jobs and give us a huge knowledge base for Water conservation, which is going to be a big issue in the future.

[monotonehell]

I was thinking about this problem.

I wonder if we could beg the Feds to find a test site to Completely replace our water infrastructure in the cbd and inner suburbs.

Have drinking water seperated from toilet/ gardening water which isn't as clean.

Out would also mean the up grade of storm catchment to help recycle the water.

It would be a huge out lay, require massive jobs and give us a huge knowledge base for Water conservation, which is going to be a big issue in the future.

As humans, we tend to do everything wrong. Forthought like what you outline above is never going to come from the invisible hand of the market. People hate change. So if something like this is going to get up, it would require an irresistible force to move the immovable. I wouldn't expect that kind of initiative from the "business as usual" Liberals. nor from Labor. (Besides we have the desalination plant ready to spring in to action now.)

Some housing estates had purple pipes laid, for exactly this kind of thing. How did they go?

[Waewick]

I don't know. But I guess if it isn't broadly picked up it doesn't work?

[Aidan]

I don't know. But I guess if it isn't broadly picked up it doesn't work?

It works but it's expensive. And the amount of recycled water is limited, so wouldn't be enough of it to pipe everywhere even if we could afford to.

[Ho Really]

Yes, I've got a complaint too. What a waste to see all that water [eventually] going down our drains and into the sea. We should be harvesting it. Now that would be a sensible issue to work on for the up=and-coming State Election.

This was suggested by the Liberals a few years ago, but what they didn't realise is how dirty our storm water is. It washes over our properties, driveways, factory sites and roads before it ends up in the storm water system. People thoughtlessly pour all kinds of contaminants into the drains. Storm water would be poisonous to drink or use in other ways. The EPA tries, but it's a lost battle.

But moving in that direction, a lot of households have a rainwater tank and most councils have a rule that any new buildings need to have on site storage of rain water.

I didn't intend for this water to be harvested for drinking, but for irrigation. I mentioned something somewhere here on SA a few years ago about building underground reservoirs in the South Parklands. Now, I'm not sure where that water that flooded the St Andrew's Hospital came from but if my guess is right it may have come from a creek running down from the Glenside Hospital and into the southeast corner of the parklands. If that water was piped into large underground reservoirs it could have been used to irrigate our southern parklands in summer and there wouldn't have been too much need for recycled water pumped from Glenelg. I know this isn't the right thread for this discussion, but it falls within the sort of weather (climate) and challenges we'll be facing from now on. Extreme.

Cheers

[Nathan]

The Victoria Park master plan had that creek feeding in to a wetland and an aquifer. Not sure what the deal is now, as it doesn't seem like any of the southern end of the park has been touched.

[Ho Really]

The Victoria Park master plan had that creek feeding in to a wetland and an aquifer. Not sure what the deal is now, as it doesn't seem like any of the southern end of the park has been touched.

Wetlands are OK and I hope they will still go ahead with some kind of plan, but I think we also need to store some of this excess water for irrigation, that's why underground reservoirs should be looked at. If my memory serves me correct someone at Flinders University came up with a system a few years ago.

Now that the weather has come back to some kind of normality do we still have complaints?

Cheers

[monotonehell]

...but I think we also need to store some of this excess water for irrigation, that's why underground reservoirs should be looked at...

There exists a large underground reservoir on the edge of the Botanic Gardens fed by First Creek. More of this sort of thing would be good.