Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Use less water...... The government should produce and hand out rainwater tanks, and greywater conversion kits, instead of spending billions producing glossy fliers and tv adds telling us to use less... Then there won't be the need for canals and pipelines...

It's a bit like the smoking debate, they spend a fortune telling people to stop smoking, yet patches/gum etc, cost way more than cigarettes.

Cut back on the advertising and make alternatives available cheaply..

Good Point EB

and troutman i kinda meant dams like lake argyle up north, i wasnt even thinking of welington
speaking of welington isnt that the dam that went salty ? i heard that they had plans to install a desal plant on which ever dam it was to get use of the water there, i wonder what they will to the the reject water

yeh a bit too much salt to drink apparently....
use to water ski on it, awsome water body and marron and black bream.

appologies to C1 if I am commenting on sumthin that has already been covered...BUT....something that really pisses me off is the fact the when it pisses down.....ALL the local creeks in melb. suburbs literally flood and just run out to sea.....lmao *frack* me cant this water be used for irrigation???????????????? who cares if its not purified....irrigation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what a *frack* waste....it almost brings you to tears seeing it all run out to sea....Steve Bracks....hope your reading this

yeh and becomes a problem,,,
rather than a resource

remembering that we have changed the catchment rules by puting roads, carparks and roofs with storm water drains...
so there can not betoo much re-charge going on.
Pro;;y why the ground water id going saline

is just so sad driving over the bridges and waving goodbye to sumthin that is slipping through our fingers, something that could make such a huge difference

how would it be if the councils pumped some of it into the ground to help with the re-charge

Unfortunatley many things are not that simple.

Stormwater is generally considered a waste that needs to be managed by local government and the view expressed by BK is rather common namely that water that flows to the sea is wasted water.

However, stormwater has a great impact on the marine environment. Localised changes in salinity, temperature, concentrations or nutrients, turbidity and a host of other environmental characteristics all effect the marine environment. Many species tie their breeding cylces to some of these changes and the marine ecosystems productivity is gratly influenced by many of these factors. Some of them we understand many we don't.

Everyone having a water tank sounds like a great idea but it may not be. City of Melbourne 3million people. 2000L of water storage per person. Say 25% of this ends up not making it into the bay because its is used in ways that lead to its abosrbtion and evaporation. Thats 15,000 megalitres that does not go into the Portphillip Bay ecosytem. Will that have a singnificant impact on the ecosystem? I don't know. Given that the system has allready been seriously modified maybe not. But how do we know?

I'm saying that everyone having water tanks is a bad idea its just that history is full of mistakes that while a good idea at the time turned out to be disasters to a greater or lesser degree at a later time. All too often people except the current wisdom of the day without enough question or thought.

As for using stormwater for irrgation IMO that would be a bad idea. There is no way I'd want to eat anything that was grown with stormwater where there is such little control over and the high likely hood of potential contamination.

Stuart

interesting points stuart.

I guess i would ask "have we not already modified the bays original ecosystem by pumping rain run off into the ba"y? i assume some if it would have made its way there via natural creeks and rivers but no where near the amount that does via sealed roads, roofs and pavements now.

But i have no real knowledge in this area, just ask'in the questions

Fair point on not using the runn off for irigation, just thinking about whats on our roads is enough to turn you off

Stuart-I hear what your saying and to some degree I am with you...

..though we already have a huge demand on water and centralizing it's
storage by flooding a valley to form dams( subject to evap.) or using aquifers (depleting ground water) to supply the people I would have thought this was more dangerous for the long term.
considering the roof area for catchment that exists already, untold metres...of infrastructure and you know what is in it!

I am no expert but figure the area of catchment and drainage on freeways, roads, carparks, shopping centres, factories and house Verses gullies, streams, ponds, lakes, wetlands and rivers that no longer exist provides new changed outcomes & needs and responses from nature.

But hey being responsible for your water is soooo important, even more than your money because you cannot drink $$$$ they may buy you some if there is any.

...C1 ....more answers are required to become works best practice
rant over

Yes, the water we need to get by comes from somewhere.. Whether it's a dam up in the hills, or pumping out of the ground, taking from a river, or catching your roof runoff, your ultimately taking it from the system... The water is needed to survive and it has to come from somewhere.

When people talk about the Ord river dam, and about how there's soooo much water up there that it can basically be wasted, I tend to wonder whether anyone has done research into the effects downstream.. Some say, yes but it's only storing excess water, that would be a flood and cause problems downstream. But our landscapes and ecosystems have adapted to these floods over the millions of years that they have been happening..

Yep like every other time that we interfere with a natural process there are side effects......

The most prominent crop in the ORD scheme now is sugar and there are massive plans to extend the sugar industry with ORD Phase II.

Having said that ... the ORD scheme is a truely spectacular undertaking and a unique part of Australia.... combined with the Bungle Bungle's and the rest of the Kimberley Ranges the whole area is a must see for every Australian at least once in their lifetimes

i thought i heard that the ORD stage 2 might not go ahead as the goverment wanted farmers to fund thier own infrastrucure (roads ect )

but i might have heard wrong

Now it appears that the government can't manage Perths water supply in thier own backyard.
The news last night informs us that the water supply they have at the mound is drying up.