The Drought!!!!

[Guest moonraker1959]

Can anyone please give me an honest opinion of how the drought is affecting SA?I've been back (spent 30 years living in SA now live in the UK)recently and got the impression it was a subject no one wanted to discuss?I know about the restrictions but whats going to happen in the future?Can someone please fill me in?

[jim and adel]

Not sure about nobody wanting to discuss it - talkback radio would go out of business were it not for the drought and hoon driving ... but perhaps fatigue is setting in?

 

We've had plenty of rain of late but not enough for any drought restrictions to be lifted. It's probably hard to focus on the drought at this time of year because everything looks so green and healthy (even our front lawn).

 

As for the future, well the experts' views are divided (as if we'd expect any different), but work progresses apace on the desal plant, RWTs remain a popular garden ornament and the pipes are in place to water the parklands around the CBD from the treated wastewater from Glenelg.

 

Jim

[Guest nishman]

It's hard to think that we're in a drought after the recent rains. But I guess it's more to do with where it doesn't fall that's the problem. Unless the Murray basin gets charged, the drought continues and irrigigators are the main victims rather than the urban gardens.

"Modern thinking" such as recycling water for non-potable use is the latest thing in the city to keep the gardens green. And of course the desal(s) again for the city, and the one for the OD mine in the future too are seen as the main way to combat the restrictions.

Stormwater recovery still remains a contentious issue - joe public is bemused why it's still allowed to flow straight out to the gulf rather than being captured, treated and re-used.

With the damage already being done to the main water source (the murray) and long term environmental impacts that this will bring, I don't think it will be possible to completely lift the resitrictions in the foreseeable future. But as we're all supposed to be a lot more energy and water savvy now, that's probably a good thing.

As long as I can fill my pool in a couple of months time of course

And as Jim has said, what else would the 'Tizer put on the front page everytime we had decent rain if all things ever got resolved...? They'd have to go back to stories about Mark Ruchuto's (sp) back and his imminent return to the crows line-up