Water Expert - Australian Cities Can't Depend On Dams For More Water

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"AUSTRALIAN cities can no longer rely on big dams for their water and must look at more creative ways of meeting demand, a prominent water expert has warned. Water Services Association executive director Ross Young said restrictions on consumption were not a long-term solution to the water shortage and ways had to be found to increase supply.

Preliminary research by the WSA predicts the nation will face a water shortfall of 818 gigalitres by 2030 and that Sydney, the worst affected city, would have to cut consumption by half.

But Mr Young said his figures were only "a work in progress" based on a "worst case" scenario. "We shouldn't delude ourselves that what people will put up with in the short term is what people will put up with in the long term," Mr Young said yesterday.

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Now that big dams were viewed as "highly problematic" for environmental and a host of other reasons, cities were having to secure future supply on multiple fronts, Mr Young said. They had to recycle wastewater, tap into groundwater, update house design and appliance technology, investigate desalination and get ready to buy supplies on the proposed national water market. "There's a whole portfolio of options," Mr Young said. "We can no longer rely on one source of water. In years gone by, the immediate response would have been to build another dam."

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11934134%255E30417,00.html