Expert Reports
Reports
Leading Australian Water Authority Report
All Options On The Table Report
Water Services Association of Australia
A recent report called All Options On The Table from Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) describes dams as high-risk investments because they rely on rainfall in a changing climate. Instead, WSAA says, we need a mix of strategies, including water efficiency. For resilience in drought, it’s better if new supply is independent of rainfall, such as water recycling or desalination.
Expert Reports on Different Water Options
System-Wide Water Efficiency
Prof. Stuart White
Prof. White has many years of experience advising water authorities all around the world. This kind of system-wide water investment has proved effective in achieving supply-demand balance. Sydney Water did it.
Remarkably, they were able to supply an extra 950,000 people, while maintaining water use at levels 25 years before the investment project. Think about that! By optimising water use, close to a million people were accommodated – with no increase in consumption.
System-wide water efficiency involves an audit of every part of the reticulation system. Every school, hospital, every large user and facility. This audit assesses water loss in council long pipes, and then at every part of water’s journey including appliances and fixtures, processes and behaviours. Then comes the tech retrofit. Needless to say, retrofit and tech intervention at this scale generate many jobs.
Professor White points out that efficiency measures alone would be “highly likely to enable significant deferral of the need for the commitment to Dunoon Dam, when combined with a diverse portfolio of demand and supply options”.
Roof Water Harvesting
Rous County Council says we need the dam because of developments on the coast. This housing development In Warrnambool is ‘water neutral’.
This system collects ALL the water falling on those whopper new houses (as opposed to thimble-sized tanks squeezed on the postage-stamp blocks).
This housing development harvests as much water as it uses. Warrnambool gets 720ml. BALLINA GETS 1800ml. We need to expand the conversation beyond dam-tank.
Dr. Stuart Khan on Water Re-Use
Expert in purified recycled water, Dr. Khan says a drought-resilient system should get 30-50% of its water from rainfall-independent sources, such as water reuse or desalination. Desalination is 100% rainfall-independent, and could be powered by renewable energy.
Reports prepared for Rous County Council
Dunoon Dam Terrestrial Ecology Impact Assessment
Environmental Flows Assessment
Proposed Dunoon Dam
Aquatic Ecology Assessment
Proposed Dunoon Dam
Other Important Reports
Shifting to ‘Circular Economy’ with Water
The latest report from peak water services body (WSAA) is about shifting from a linear, extractive ‘supply’ model to a model that values water – the ‘circular economy’. Sydney Water workshopped and created a vision for this. We need this kind of vision here. Instead, Rous wants to flush a rainforest down the toilet.
Continuing the productivity conversation
In August 2020 the NSW Productivity Commission released a green paper which recommended ‘all options on the table’ including new (non dam) water sources, and that we improve water system efficiency.
