Urban water action a welcome addition to national agenda
ACF has welcomed recent commitments by the Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Water Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Environment spokesman Anthony Albanese to address urban water issues.
ACF Building Green Campaigner, Kate Noble said: "Water resilience is crucial if Australian cities are to be prepared for climate change.
"Our cities are already experiencing drought and they will lose 25 per cent of their rainfall by 2030 due to climate change.
"At the same time we continue to use drinking water to flush the toilet, water the garden and wash the clothes. These wasteful uses of drinking water account for around 50 per cent of household water use in Australia. In some states, such as Queensland, it's as much as 72 per cent.
"All this water could be replaced with water that is 'fit-for-purpose' from rainwater tanks and recycled water plants. And we shouldn't be using drinking water for watering parks, washing roads or for industrial processes - it just doesn't make sense.
"To turn this around we need more than rebates and voluntary action. Investment in distributed water saving infrastructure and large scale water recycling plants should be the top priority.
"Federal leadership, as part of the National Water Initiative, is crucial so the community is not left with knee-jerk responses like unnecessary, destructive dams and energy guzzling desalination plants."
