The only long term way of making sure we have plenty of water is to increase the cost until it reflects the real value.
Forget more reserviors, desal plants, pipelines across the country.
All users pay the full price for every drop...its as simple as that.

adelcrow wrote on Mar 4^th, 2012 at 2:15pm:


I think you are channelling Andrei.... IN a sector where water security suggestions flow rather freely your methodology is actually possibly the very worst I've heard yet. The only possible worst scenario is the Greens who just hoep that 90% of the population dies. So I guess you are the SECOND worst suggestion.

Opinions are not facts Longy.....The fact is most dams in Australia where well below capacity and we where facing a water shortage that called for restrictions and water management that is still a problem.....If you think once in a lifetime floods will drought proof Australia I think you are ignoring history that says otherwise.....Rainfall is decreasing over the long term and you cannot rely on praying for rain as was John Howard's policy!!!

Oh how soon we forget!!!



http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Pray-for-rain-urges-Howard/2007/04/22/117...

Pray for rain, urges Howard

April 22, 2007

Prime Minister John Howard has urged Australians to pray for rain as hard-hit agricultural regions face zero water allocations due to drought.

Mr Howard warned last week that farmers in the Murray-Darling Basin faced having no water for the coming irrigation year unless heavy rain fell in the next six to eight weeks.

On Sunday he said he intended to meet irrigators over coming weeks to discuss the grim situation.

Meanwhile, he encouraged people to seek divine intervention.

"It's very serious, it's unprecedented in my lifetime and I really feel very deeply for the people affected," Mr Howard told ABC Television.

"So we should all, literally and without any irony, pray for rain over the next six to eight weeks."

Mr Howard urged state governments to waive water allocation charges for farmers who would not receive any irrigation water.

He said the federal government would continue to provide exceptional circumstances assistance to farmers and would consider "reasonable extra help" for irrigators.

"We can't underwrite people's incomes ... but we can provide some extra help, and we would also like to see the states kick in a bit," he said.

Final decisions on water allocations will depend on rainfall during the next few weeks.

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In over a decade in office the Howard Government did NOTHING about Australia's water shortage and long term decrease in rainfall.....Building more dams will not make it rain!!!



Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana (1863 - 1952), The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

adelcrow wrote on Mar 4^th, 2012 at 2:15pm:


Whilst I agree water is to cheap increasing the price will not make it rain!!!

____ wrote on Mar 4^th, 2012 at 2:48pm:


Abbott is generally dealing with simpletons that require simple answers they can understand. It means nothing that Abbott is totally wrong all that matters is that the message is simple.

philperth2010 wrote on Mar 4^th, 2012 at 2:41pm:



Opinions are not facts Longy.....The fact is most dams in Australia where well below capacity and we where facing a water shortage that called for restrictions and water management that is still a problem.....If you think once in a lifetime floods will drought proof Australia I think you are ignoring history that says otherwise..

you miss the point. a strategy for water-proofing australia requires multiple methodologies. but the truth remains that if cities had had double the water storage capacity before the last drought, the the result would have been far less serious. as we are demonstrating at the moment, the country has the capcity to fill large reservoirs at times and it is in these times that we need more capacity. there have been almost no new reservoirs built inthis country in the last 30 years while population has doubled. all along the east coast, the current rains woudl be able to FILL new reservoirs that could protect us from the worst of drought during the next one. but no, the greens oppose ANY dams and would empty most reservoirs given a chance. wate-preoofing needs multiple strategies but the very FIRST one is to increase storage capacity. if we dont do that we are then FORCED down the route of uber-expensive desal plants. the last drough exposed the failings of successinve decades of pathetic water management. Teh trouble is, we learned nothing. there are still no new reservoirs. instead there are billions spent on desal plants which most of the time will lie idle.

building reservoirs is the first obvious step - except to the Greens. Tey'd literally prefer we died instead.

longweekend58 wrote on Mar 4^th, 2012 at 3:02pm:


The Greens and everyone of note in the field of water management in this country would prefer we were more responsible with our use of this precious resource. Its only the major parties that want to play expensive games of politics with our water.