Does Malcolm Turnbull have a rainwater tank? Does it make sense to have a rainwater tank in suburban Sydney? If you think so, tell me why and i will tell you why not.
a friend of mine has two slimline rainwater tanks along the side of her Paddington terrace. She likes the look of the corrugated iron.
She'd probably say that they keep her garden alive in times of water restrictions, and that provides an economic benefit (she doesn't have to replace dying plants) and an ecological one (just a tad more O2 for Sydney)
But the feel good non economic case is the one which has most impact in Sydney. People feel better, and then may just be a little more mindful about other consumption that impacts the environment.
In any case it is the job of government to provide urban water supplies, and generations of policitians and public servants have failed Sydney on that score.
The first priority for the first white settlers was to tank the Tank Stream. Water supply should be one of the essential priorities for all governments. As Malcolm Turnbull said people wouldn't put up with the sorts of restrictions on electricity which we seem happy to accept with water in Sydney.
electricity is supplied at a cost to a customer which relates to the cost of production and the demand for the service. Water appears to be priced on a basis which is politically viable. This is no way to plan. If people put in their own tanks to save water which then costs 20 to 30 times more than mains water, then there is a misapplication of resources going on which results in the community being poorer than it could be. The emotional pleasure of having your own tank cannot be denied, but it may well be a short-lived pleasure which wears off as economic realities and mosquitoes rear their heads.
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a friend of mine has two slimline rainwater tanks along the side of her Paddington terrace. She likes the look of the corrugated iron.
She'd probably say that they keep her garden alive in times of water restrictions, and that provides an economic benefit (she doesn't have to replace dying plants) and an ecological one (just a tad more O2 for Sydney)
But the feel good non economic case is the one which has most impact in Sydney. People feel better, and then may just be a little more mindful about other consumption that impacts the environment.
In any case it is the job of government to provide urban water supplies, and generations of policitians and public servants have failed Sydney on that score.
The first priority for the first white settlers was to tank the Tank Stream. Water supply should be one of the essential priorities for all governments. As Malcolm Turnbull said people wouldn't put up with the sorts of restrictions on electricity which we seem happy to accept with water in Sydney.
electricity is supplied at a cost to a customer which relates to the cost of production and the demand for the service. Water appears to be priced on a basis which is politically viable. This is no way to plan. If people put in their own tanks to save water which then costs 20 to 30 times more than mains water, then there is a misapplication of resources going on which results in the community being poorer than it could be. The emotional pleasure of having your own tank cannot be denied, but it may well be a short-lived pleasure which wears off as economic realities and mosquitoes rear their heads.
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