Drought or climate change - will you save water this winter?

I’m a bit suss when it comes to recycled water, just in case I boil my water

This is all bullshit. Look at ActewAGL’s dam level table. We are within 2% of the volume we had stored at the same time a year ago even with low inflows due to the drought and a catchment that was destroyed because of gross stupidity. Plain fact is we are saving water. Lots. Our use is 35% lower than what we used to use per head of population a decade ago. Some of it is restrictions but a lot of it is people making a real effort.

hmm… someone else’s garden to play with…. I could go for that!

Look, twenty-odd years ago when I was a raving Greenie, everyone older than 27 thought there was absolutely no point in attempting to save energy by exploring alternative means of energy – now we have major car producers with hybrids on the road!

In fact, there were numerous ‘alternative’ living choices that were considered childishly optimistic back then, that are now available in mainstream society.

I think we are all moving towards a more balanced world – no need for doom and gloom, embark on a program of small adjustments, and incrementally we can all make a difference.

deye: The ACTEW (as opposed to ActewAGL) site has a graph going back 5 years here.

crankymum said :

I actually have lots of ideas, but not enough garden…

You’re more than welcome to experiment in my withering garden crankymum…

crankymum said :

Just have resign oneself to losing the green lawn as a mandatory part of the garden…

Still fighting that battle, although it ain’t looking promising… But the spells of rain in the last week or two have helped a bit.

Honestly why bother saving water? Politicians and business have no interest in concepts such as carrying capacity as it relates to the Australian continent and will continue to exponentially increase the population until there isn’t enough water to go around anyway.

There are now two rebates if you install a tank and connect it to a toilet or washing machine. The ACT Gov and the Feds are both offering rebates – and for a 5000l tank the rebates will just about cover the whole cost including the installing of the pipework to a dunny….

Having said that I reckon ‘restriction fatigue’ is going to rear its ugly head this spring and summer….

Rawhide Kid No 2 said :

As one old Canberran told me not so long ago. “Do you really want your suburb to look like Aranda during the peak of the Bushfire season or the lawn or Parliament House”. Food for thought?

Now, see – this is where I get all stirred up and excited about designing my garden to be both water-efficient, AND relatively safe from the danger of fire.

So far I have come up with:

Using recycled concrete/brick (Canberra Concrete Recyclers in Pialligo)as mulch; it comes in a number of different sizes and colours.

Using coarse river sand in areas where little feet will potentially be pattering around.

Choosing plants like:
Native Indigo – a very fine-stemmed, fine-leafed bush that is quite lovely.
Prostrate forms of Banksia – can be seen in the Nat Botanical Gdns, a groundcover that is really pleasing.
Dianella – a strappy-leaved native with gorgeous star-shaped blue flowers, that develop stunnning blue berries – andit comes in an indigenous form that can be seen on Black Mountain.
Tea-tree – there are such a variety of them; I love the red-formed dwarf variety, I keep it pruned in a hedge.

I actually have lots of ideas, but not enough garden… Essentially, old-timers just don’t grasp the realities of life. It IS possible to have a garden that is green with growth and clourful with flowers; and relatively safe from fire; and that utilizes every scrap of rainfull to the fullest extent; and can use excess waste water.

Just have resign oneself to losing the green lawn as a mandatory part of the garden…

As one old Canberran told me not so long ago. “Do you really want your suburb to look like Aranda during the peak of the Bushfire season or the lawn or Parliament House”. Food for thought?

deye said :

It’s interesting that ActewAGL only has the dam level data for the last 12 months on it’s website (at least as far as I can see). It would be nice to be able to look at that for however long they have been measuring the levels for.

This is the nearest I can find:
http://www.envcomm.act.gov.au/soe/2007actreport/indicators07/wateruse07#figure1
Note that it adds all ACT water supply dams in together.

The same information for the previous three years is at: http://www.envcomm.act.gov.au/soe/2003actreport/indicators03/wateruse03, but for some reason there was no graph in that report.