it's raining in North Bris!

[topcropper]

This has been the wierdest summer I can remember. Not a clear blue sky in months, probably back in November. Alway overcast, windy and much cooler than any summer I can remember. No mid to high 30's, mostly high 20's, the odd mid 20's and a few low 30's.

I know the southern areas have had some stinkers, but it has been weird in the northern summer rain areas. It has been the coolest summer ever. I asked some 70 years old farmers yesterday, and they said they never remember a cooler one.

I've had the air con on twice this summer. It was much hotter in October. Never thought there would be a scorcherless summer, but we are about to have one. Nice change from the last few, especially two years ago.

Also some very cold weather doing some damaging things in China right now.

See ya's.

 

[Sunfish]

65% full is actually good and there is more rain predicted so I don't know if there is any point keeping the water restrictions.

NQWater has been strangely silent about just how much water is in our dams but I just checked their web site and they have one as full. But the restrictions have not been relaxed yet.

We'll get a "Sorry" from Howard easier than a green light from the water authorities. They just don't want to spend money pumping water again but take our rates every year without any rebate for "failure to supply". LOL

 

[Pushka]

One thing which makes it much harder for us in the south with water restrictions, is that it will go from week to week without any rain at all. And when it does rain, everything is so dusty, unless it rains really heavily, it rains dirt. So the gardens and parklands are crinkly dry. Awful. Yet even with the highest restrictions in Qld, your gardens are still green because even though it may not rain as much as normal in a drought, it still rains fairly regularly, it's just that the Governments didnt build the dams where the rains are most likely to fall.

Given that most water usage is in industry and agriculture, I think that Governments totally under-estimate the damage they are doing to the environment, and people's morale by watching the gardens and parklands die. Let alone the loss of aged trees that can't be replaced in this generation. Talk about easy targets!

 

[Spectre]

Yet again digging up this old thread... kind of a chronology for me.

up to 51% which is nice to see.

What I'm wondering is if Anna's relaxing the water restrictions does this mean that Campbell's going to reduce excess water levies on rates?

 

[soyabean]

I am worried about all the rotten water tanks around Bris in the near future and also the breeding of mosquitoes in them.

 

[allmine]

I am worried about all the rotten water tanks around Bris in the near future and also the breeding of mosquitoes in them.

Gold Coast Council has jusy begun random rain water tank check, looking exactly for that. Aslo water quality etc.
My 4 are OK.

 

[LynnH]

What I'm wondering is if Anna's relaxing the water restrictions does this mean that Campbell's going to reduce excess water levies on rates?

No, Spectre - unfortunately not!

Anna's relaxing water restrictions (a totally ridiculous decision, IMHO) in the hope that we all use more water - at higher cost - so that the government can pay for the now-unnecessary desalination plant at the GC - you know, the one that's got all those rusty bits-n-pieces.

Cheers
LynnH

 

[allmine]

No, Spectre - unfortunately not!

Anna's relaxing water restrictions (a totally ridiculous decision, IMHO) in the hope that we all use more water - at higher cost - so that the government can pay for the now-unnecessary desalination plant at the GC - you know, the one that's got all those rusty bits-n-pieces.

Cheers
LynnH

I don't think she's paid for it yet, not till it can work. Being french, I doubt it will work well anyway?

 

[letiha]

No, Spectre - unfortunately not!

Anna's relaxing water restrictions (a totally ridiculous decision, IMHO) in the hope that we all use more water - at higher cost - so that the government can pay for the now-unnecessary desalination plant at the GC - you know, the one that's got all those rusty bits-n-pieces.

Cheers
LynnH

The relaxations are very very slight. i think we now get to use the hose for 30 minutes 2 times a week instead of once...big deal

 

[alwayscurious]

Raining again!

which is fantastic, cause I emptied out my 3000L water tank, cleaned out all the silt, and concreted underneath on Friday.

The crusher dust was washing away and causing angst - settling the tank right in, and making a mess - weeds etc.

It's got a nice neat concrete slab underneath now.

Now I've put it back in place, it's raining again to fill it up

Yay.

 

[Kevin Hockey]

Whilst i dont claim to be a weather expert, although I'm sure i can predict the weather as good as the experts most days , it would appear clear to me the reason for the drought was the "El Nino" effect. Since it was announced the El Nino cycle was over we have had traditional consistent rain and weather.

My prediction is for a wet winter ahead, we haven't had one for a long time.

I also believe a bit of a con job is happening over these dams. Somerset Dam is choccers. Completely full capacity, so much so they are now releasing water out of the dam.

Finally, even if Capt Bligh eases all restrictions, I think most of us are now used to using less water, majority of homes now have rainwater tanks, many homes have water restrictive devices on their taps etc and therefore it is unlikely we will use water ad hoc as in the past.

Kev
www.realestateagencysales.com.au

 

[Sunfish]

We had a heck of a lot of rain in Townsville and our dams overfilled, including the extra storage available from new radial gates on a spillway.

Surprise, surprise. Our water restrictions have not been relaxed. They never were anything like Brisbane's though. The council simply does not want to pump the water. Your council will be the same. Restrictions will be relaxed but they will never revert to "normal".

 

[Sunfish]

Just found this in someone's blog:

Spot on Pikey. For the record, the average household consumption is about 250Kl a year, the average household has 2.6 people so yes, it is about 100kl per person. In Brisbane there has been a drought where the dams are but no drought over the rooftops with a consistent 1000mm each year. This means that the average roof area of 250m2 will deliver the 250kl of runoff needed by the average household every year.

I can see why you have such high hopes for water tanks. He then goes on to say:

When we analyse the annual rainfall spread over the year we find that this 250kl will be most efficiently captured by a 13,500 litre tank. In essence, a full tank can capture no additional water while an empty one can deliver no water. So the solution is a tank that, when partially full, allows sufficient storage for supply security while having sufficient spare capacity to capture most of each rainfall event.

That sounds like a big tank.

 

[topcropper]

That sounds like a big tank.

Big tank..?? That's not a big tank. I have 3 times 25,000 litre ones on my house. A 25,000 litre tank is only about 3.5 metres diameter and 2.2 metres high.

But the go now is these new 110,000 litre plastic lined steel tanks for rainwater. Most people are going that way.

Put a decent sized rainwater capacity on a house, in a decent rainfall area, and you won't run out of water.

Then around here we have unlimited bore water for the garden, swimming pool, stock and toilet. If you ever did run out of rainwater, the bore water would be fine to drink, but it would be 'hard' water, so not good to shower in, unlike rainwater which is heaven to shower in.



Raining here nicely at the moment. Hope it racks off now for month or two so we can finish harvest.

See ya's.

 

[Pushka]

I always think it weird that people in Queensland complain about water restrictions, but at least it rains up your way quite regularly. So you dont need to water your gardens to keep them green. You really need to come to Adelaide; you will see 100 year old trees that are dead. Few lawns anywhere. Parklands dead. We have only had 22 ml this year! We have dust storms on the River Murray.

El Nino and El Ninio have been denounced down here, cant remember the latest theory.

 

[Spectre]

I also believe a bit of a con job is happening over these dams. Somerset Dam is choccers. Completely full capacity, so much so they are now releasing water out of the dam.

Finally, even if Capt Bligh eases all restrictions, I think most of us are now used to using less water, majority of homes now have rainwater tanks, many homes have water restrictive devices on their taps etc and therefore it is unlikely we will use water ad hoc as in the past.

Kev
www.realestateagencysales.com.au

I never got a rain tank I admit it. I spent $40 on hoses to run off the washing machine and it did a better job.

News report off of twitter today - looks like the dams are up to near 60% http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/15/2543437.htm

We were up the sunny coast - when there we spoke with some friends who live up there. They're pretty adamant the water shortage is a scam as Wivenhoe was only built to cover brisbane if it flooded and not as a reservoir. That seems to ring true with me. But as well, the 'next dam' - traveston - isnt going to be used to support water infrastructure but a nuke plant. Its in the middle of nowhere... So wonder if this is the bligh govts unspoken policy.

 

[craigb]

Beautiful sound of rain hitting the roof again, cat doesn't like it but we certainly do.

As well as relocating the rain we might also dig up the pollies who were around in 87 when the dams hit the crisis level of 27% and ask em for a 'please explain'.

Its just insane that any water gets to the ocean, if it were money im sure they would be catching it,
i do not know why we do not catch and share the water all over the australia. they can build an oil pipe from one end of the US to the other, surly we can do similar, ?

 

[Spectre]

Apparently new york, london doesnt have dams either - all caught from stormwater drainage then cleaned up/recycled...

I dont know why we dont have stormwater drains going into a pipe somewhere (not sarcastic - I just dont know why it couldnt be built)

 

[allmine]

Apparently new york, london doesnt have dams either - all caught from stormwater drainage then cleaned up/recycled.

I think you'll find they get most of thiers from the Canadians, who are locked in a one sided contract over it.

As for London, I'm not sure, but they do have small supply volumes and if it is a warm summer, they go onto water restrictions, and that is even when it rains in the summer also.

Is traverston dam big enough for a Neuk power plant? I'd have thought more cooling water is required then this catchment area could give.

 

[Sunfish]

The Burdekin Dam has an plenty of storage and overflows every year. It would make economic sense to complete stage II which wold include a hydro power plant and take the power south rather than the water. (The 275KV line already exists, the pipeline doesn't) The big Brisbane power stations use a lot of water and they could be scaled back freeing up water for others but that would be politically impossible. No-one would allow jobs to go to save water.

Piping water around the country has no chance of working. What region do you know of that will allow it's water to be stolen and piped to the big city? No city would pay the price alone and would expect the donor regions to help pay for the robbery. Political suicide.