tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26887145.post116063888941435569..comments2023-11-29T05:33:12.083+11:00Comments on Ochre Archives: Global & Australian Water SituationPhillip Diprosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13212350470500325004noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26887145.post-1161692881040423772006-10-24T22:28:00.000+10:002006-10-24T22:28:00.000+10:00Water is a renewable resourceFrom an ethical point...<B>Water is a renewable resource</B><BR/>From an ethical point of view I absolutely support Maude's opinion. Here I just like to add some points which I think shouldn't be missed in this discussion.<BR/><BR/>First, water that is wasted is not lost. Most common pollutants like organic material, nitrate, phosphate, etc. can be removed in adequate treating facilities and the water can be used again. Probably in Australia and also in many other countries, where all major cities are located at the coast, this point often gets lost as the wastewater is lost to the sea.<BR/><BR/>Also, and most important, rainwater can be stored in the ground, in wetlands, in plants… in other words, in healthy ecosystems. As in these days, these ecosystems are not common anymore, water runoff (and with it soil erosion) is increased and the country gets dryer. In changing destructive land use practices to regenerative and protective management approaches this trend can be reversed. Clean drinkable water is an ‘agricultural’ good.<BR/><BR/>Both solutions have one thing in common: they cost money. (As a nice coincidence, the Google Ad on top of the site advertised for a report about the water recycling market in the USA, which has a value of about 2.1b$). Water recycling and treatment in the common sense as well as in the sense of ecosystem protection are costly and can only be done with adequate funding. Therefore giving water a monetary value might not only help Nestle and Coca Cola to polish their finances. If properly regulated, it could support a water policy where a farmer or entrepreneur is paid for producing (and not mining!) clean freshwater. If the Chinese believe that they can make 60 times the profit using water for industrial than agricultural processes, they should ‘produce’ clean water on their land…<BR/><BR/>As I am Swiss, here is a link of an interesting Swiss approach: <A HREF:="http://www.eawag.ch/forschung/siedlungswasserwirtschaft/index_EN" HREF="" REL="nofollow"><BR/>the basement sewage plant</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com