The future of Sydney (1 Viewer)

[loquasagacious]

In light of the report into Sydney's water crisis and the coming formation of an organisation called 10,000 friends* (heard about it on 702):

What are peoples thoughts on Sydney's future?

Do we need better long term planning?

What kind of plans/programes need to be implemented?






*A group linked to the Australian Institute who lobby for better infrastructure and long term planning in Sydney.

 

[thorrnydevil]

In light of the report into Sydney's water crisis and the coming formation of an organisation called 10,000 friends* (heard about it on 702):

What are peoples thoughts on Sydney's future?

Do we need better long term planning?

What kind of plans/programes need to be implemented?






*A group linked to the Australian Institute who lobby for better infrastructure and long term planning in Sydney.

Sydney definetly needs a better plan, for the largest city in Australia, its water menegement is just shit house. The Government needs to step in and do something about it before the problem occurs, not just throw on restrictions after the drought has started.

In my area we've been on restrictions for abot 3 years, and we have pernament Level 1 restrictions always in place, and our dam is at about 91% capacity, compared to Warigamba Dam whos capacity hit all time lows yesterday of 40%!!!

 

[iambored]

I don't understand water restrictions, they should just have permanant guidelines we have to follow (as thornydevil said, possibly permanant level 1)


http://www.hastings.nsw.gov.au/FrontDesk/Water/Water_RestrictionsLvl1.html
i think most of these are fine for everyday, especially

Hoses must be fitted with a water cut-off trigger or control nozzle

Watering systems cannot be used between 10am and 4pm.

 

[thorrnydevil]

I don't understand water restrictions, they should just have permanant guidelines we have to follow (as thornydevil said, permanant level 1)

And you save so much water. The only problem with Sydney would be it would be way harder to enforce because there are so many fuck heads who like breaking the law for their bloody garden.

 

[iambored]

And you save so much water. The only problem with Sydney would be it would be way harder to enforce because there are so many fuck heads who like breaking the law for their bloody garden.

lol i know. we barely water the lawn, too bad if it dies. then you see people with sprinklers going, what's the point? they have fines but how is anyone going to know, they don't patrol the areas.

i think they have to make it reflect back on the person, they have to tell the person the benefits they will get from it e.g. save $___ per month. or if you have a water bill below a certain amount per person they give you a discount.


my thoughts on syd future? it needs some serious planning, not just in the area of water but other areas. the earlier they start, the better the chance of making a difference in the long run. people like to wait until it's too late before they try and change things.

 

[thorrnydevil]

lol i know. we barely water the lawn, too bad if it dies. then you see people with sprinklers going, what's the point? they have fines but how is anyone going to know, they don't patrol the areas.

Yeah, well our lawn is still alive, but we've just had recent showers. Our LGA is alot smaller than Sydney so its easier to patrol. Maybe local councils should be given the authority to patrol the local areas, instead of the State Government and Frank Sartor.

i think they have to make it reflect back on the person, they have to tell the person the benefits they will get from it e.g. save $___ per month. or if you have a water bill below a certain amount per person they give you a discount..

If you buy a water tank the Government will give you a rebate...this means you can water your garden (or sprinkler) any time you like...but you should still be socially responsible.

 

[mervvyn]

Sydney has quite a lot of problems, mainly:

-Population increases - where to put the extra people, out west or higher density?
-Transport of the public variety is dying, causing a greater dependency on cars, not to mention the places where there wasn't much pub transport in the first place. In spite of this, people expect to be able to commute --> either we beef up pub transport significantly, or move towards more business centres (decentralisation). A mixture of both would probably be even better.
-Water- 'nuff said, we say it's important but we don't want to change our ways.
-Services - relating to suburban sprawl, some areas are underplanned and underserviced as a result of hasty land releases, with plenty of housing and roads but little else, which don't make that great areas to live it would appear
-More, like hospitals and schools....... though i guess they aren't as Sydney specific.

But yes, the sooner a comprehensive plan can be made for long term improvements as opposed to stop gap measures

 

[mervvyn]

Yeah, well our lawn is still alive, but we've just had recent showers. Our LGA is alot smaller than Sydney so its easier to patrol. Maybe local councils should be given the authority to patrol the local areas, instead of the State Government and Frank Sartor.


If you buy a water tank the Government will give you a rebate...this means you can water your garden (or sprinkler) any time you like...but you should still be socially responsible.

the problem with the rebates is that it has been in fact TOO popular, and so there is not enough funding for rebates - i think... that and the lack of rain (until recently) with which to fill the things.

 

[thorrnydevil]

the problem with the rebates is that it has been in fact TOO popular, and so there is not enough funding for rebates - i think... that and the lack of rain (until recently) with which to fill the things.

mmm...very true.

 

[Cape]

If our government was actually smart ... they should have thought about this ages ago.

We don't use as much water as everyone else, but we have a tank, which was installed before the rebate came in, so we missed out.
The only problem with a tank is that it barely rains in sydney, so majority of the time it remains empty.

We don't really care about our garden anymore, ppl should go out and buy native plants, which not only introduce wildlife into their garden but also they don't require watering like exotic species.

 

[OZGIRL86]

I saw a pic of the dam in todays paper, its looks bad. The water level is so low 40%.

 

[OZGIRL86]

This is a silly question, but why do we have to use clean water to flush our toilets? Because I thik that seems to waste alot of water. Why aren't our toilets flushed using recycled water or river water?

 

[thorrnydevil]

This is a silly question, but why do we have to use clean water to flush our toilets? Because I thik that seems to waste alot of water. Why aren't our toilets flushed using recycled water or river water?

It is stupid isn't it...I mean, your not going to be drinking the water or anything, and in many cases recycled water is much, much cleaner than dam water.

 

[mervvyn]

In theory, we could use our water really efficiently by grading water appropriate to its cleanliness and then giving it a use for which it is clean enough.

The problem is infrastructure - this is the reason why grey water hasn't caught on anywhere apart from the newest housing releases in Sydney, because the infrastructure doesn't exist to collect or treat grey water. This is a shame because it's such a valuable yet wasted resource, but what can you do when no-one is willing to foot the bill?

 

[iambored]

recycled water is a good idea for toilets

 

[thorrnydevil]

Didn't they do that at the 2000 Olympics, or was it the toilet water that got used for the gardens...anyway, something like that.

 

[Cape]

Recycled water is a good idea for everything. especially watering the garden.

 

[thorrnydevil]

Unfortunately, I think the problem will only get worse for Sydney in the future.

 

[OZGIRL86]

yep, especially when our population is increasing

 

[thorrnydevil]

yep, especially when our population is increasing

Yep, what is it now, 4 million in Sydney?