Canadian Water Expert - Sydney May Run Out Of Water For Everything But Drinking Within 3 Years

[hatrack]

SYDNEY'S dwindling water supplies could be limited to drinking only within three years, a Canadian expert has warned. Water advocate Maude Barlow says she believes Sydney is in the running with Mexico City and Beijing to be the first city in the world to run out of water.

"My guess is that Sydney is going to hit the water wall in three to five years," she told the Seven Network. "That doesn't mean there won't be any water but I think it will be reserved for drinking. "I want to say to people in Australia you have a limited amount of time before you're going to have to evacuate your country. I mean that."

Ms Barlow heads the Council of Canadians, Canada's largest Public Advocacy Organisation, and is the author of Blue Gold, The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water.

She is also leading a push for a United Nations convention on international water rights.

EDIT

http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,20942514%255E421,00.html

[phantom power]

1. esoteric bitch.

[acmavm]

4. what in the hell do you mean????????????????????

[phantom power]

6. Oh, I was making a funny...

based on this post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=75656&mesg_id=75656

[hatrack]

7. I think this is a reference to a John Howard quote

It was something all about "esoteric topics" like, y'know, climate breakdown . . .

[acmavm]

2. Oh well, wonder if John Howard feels guilty about his stance

on global warming and the environment. He was such an ass for so long he wasted a lot of precious time that should have been spent preparing for just this type of circumstance.

And this is exactly what we'll be facing as well. The bush** family fully intends to push the envelope as far as they can. Then they'll hi-dee-ho it off to Paraguay and their new nazi compound.

[phantom power]

3. K+R for "evacuate the country"

There's a phrase that makes me feel queasy. Considering that the northern hemisphere appears to be only 10 years or so behind Australia in the march toward water crisis.

[Kolesar]

13. Is it not because the jet stream moved and it does not snow in the eastern mountains?

IIRC, Australia built a system to capture "all" of the snowmelt water in the mountain range so that the cities could use it. (the Snowy Mountains?)

[phantom power]

14. I don't know. That would be analogous to what's happening in the Northern Hem.

[itsmesgd]

5. how long before water becomes the next oil?

how long before all the water in the world is controlled by corporations and wars are fought to "rescue" water from other countries?

[Drifter]

12. Why do you think the NeoCons ...

want to privatize resources like water. They want to do this before things hit the wall. When that happens, they can set the price based on the profits they would like to make (rather than the fair cost).

This would guarantee a lower standard of water quality, and a higher price for it.

Cheers
Drifter

[Dr.Phool]

8. Now we'll have to build a fence along the pacific coast.

Gotta keep out those unbathed Australians.

[whistle]

9. They will just call in the Road Warrior to capture those water trucks

:sarcasm: Sorry, potable water shortages are a serious problem all over the world.

[kestrel91316]

10. Why aren't they on the fast track with some solar or wind powered desalination plants

so they can at least do spit baths, too???

[silverweb]

15. That's what I'm wondering.

Water, water everywhere... and we should be using its own perpetual motion energy to generate power while we desalinate it for our needs.

So it will take some money to get started... but so what?? Does anyone seriously believe that producing fresh water will be more labor/energy intensive or less necessary than drilling for/refining/shipping oil?

[undergroundpanther]

11. Ever heard of a water generator?

It's a basically a dehumidifier with a water filter.. Some are solar powered and work in even 3% humidity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_water_generator

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. Sounds like something you would have R2D2 repair. :^) I think these

along with solar shingles and wind turbines, will become common before long.

[Kolesar]

17. Or there's going to be hell to pay!