Comments on: Water Tanks vs Damns

By: marc

marc — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:03:49 +0000

yeah, my local council had to buy this scar in the earth CSR created for a huge amount (which my rates now pay for). it would be a great damn, even if just for community irrigation. But i suspect anything taking vision is out of the question.

By: grant

grant — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:06:34 +0000

I like the idea of decentralised water management - local recycling plants are a great idea I think.

The issue I see with localised dams is that our waterways are an absolute mess - and particularly in urban environments often no longer viable as a source of usable water.

In certain areas, small scale dams (which might include hydro power) make a lot of sense though…

By: marc

marc — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:47:10 +0000

i think you are right Leah, “macro water management” thats the key. i remember my sister in law telling me about cotton nappies being more harmful than disposable ones. she is an environmental consultant and educator and i couldn’t believe what she was saying until she pointed out that i wasn’t looking at the total environmental cost from start to end. thus i’m always a little skeptical heading into environmental decisions now days and struggled to find info on this. i’ll keep searching

By: leah maclean

leah maclean — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:15:50 +0000

The tanks vs dams issue that you raised brought to mind the “think global, act local” slogan.

At a macro perspective we should be working towards solutions, water and otherwise, that will provide the greatest benefit per unit of invesment (whether that investment be money, effort, or beans etc) for the greatest number of people. At the same time I believe that each and everyone one of us has the responsibility to look after our own patch by being socially responsible in our own use of resources etc.

So from that convoluted response my answer is get a tank that helps keep you patch and keep supporting the best solutions for macro water management.