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Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Tougher Water Restrictions To Kick In


As we head to our first really hot day of the not quite summer season, 38 degrees in Adelaide tomorrow, stronger water restrictions are on the way, with sprinklers banned through the week.

Our gl'eaurious leaders are clearly on top of things.

River Murray Minister Karlene Maywald, said "it was clear South Australians were not getting the water saving message and that consumption was up."

Just a day later, Acting Water Minister John Hill said he was "heartened" to see water consumption was down and that the public was heeding to call to reduce water use.

"South Australia is just following slowly behind the other states, with knee-jerk reactions and mixed messages from it's ministers," according to one commentator.

Prior to the last set of regulations, there was a huge spike in consumption as residents soaked their lawns and refilled their pools.

It does seem that all the focus is on gardening uses of water. Clearly it is the easiest to regulate, but will people dob in serial water abusers and will the government have the resources to really tackle the problem. You can be certain that consumption will be way up in the five weeks leading up to the new restrictions. You will have to get up at 5am or start watering after 8pm on Saturday or Sunday, in order to follow the new regulations.

This is just tokenism. More serious consideration to tackle other uses of water by industry, local councils, irrigators and other profligate water abusers. Also these regulations do not address other domestic uses of water. Very reactionary and not reflective of sound planning.

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