we should all just grow our own

Stop using the Murray to grow cotton

you tend to use much less water than you think; most of us already have water tanks (containing water thats niether floridated or chlorinated), the contents of which we usually waste on grass lawns and ornamental trees. grapes and bananas don't take that much water if you water them sensibly


you begin to realise just how much food you get for a relative little effort when you grow your own (and how little space you actually need), and when you tee it up with your neighbors and all grow different things, you get heaps in terms of variety and waste very little.

and they taste great, you don't have to use pesticides, and you end up eating healthier...

waveslave said...

Or should we pump water to the dry south instead ?

on that subject many people dont seem to understand that in WA at least, it would take more energy to pump this water from the Ord to Perth than it does to desalinate it in Perth.
And where is the energy going to come from in the middle of the desert for pumping stations??
Some greeny's think some magical fairies are going to reverse gravity so water can flow up hill.

Should we mainly cultivate in the wet North or pump water to the South?

Have a good look at the environmental damage every irrigation scheme world wide has resulted in and answer the question yourself.

This country has a very quaint approach to water. Desalination is now being used quite widely to fill metropolitan reservoirs. A lot of this value added seawater is used to flush toilets and wash humans and their possessions.

We suck water from our aquifers to process minerals and irrigate thousands of acres of the Murray Darling for cotton, land which will be rendered useless for decades when it finally gives out, as it has in every state in the US where cotton was grown.

In 1995 I listened to a talk on the science show on ABC radio. There was a drought on at the time and the guest speaker was a proponent of water recycling. Los Angeles was, back then, recycling 40% of its fresh water using Australian filtration technology.

The sooner we wake up to our responsibilities as far as the environment is concerned the sooner we will secure a future for our beloved offspring. I am 54 and do not hold out much hope when gormlessness like taking water from the north to the south is still being debated.