Comments on: Where does all the rain go? http://globalistan.org/where-does-all-the-rain-go/ Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:53:39 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.3.17 By: Erol http://globalistan.org/where-does-all-the-rain-go/#comment-235 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:53:39 +0000 http://www.globalistan.org/?p=249#comment-235 Isn’t it really an irony; water problem, in fact, could be solved easily if the political problems have not been so harsh in the region. (I mean the Palestinian problem.) Is Benhabib`s suggestion too optimistic?(http://www.resetdoc.org/EN/Benhabib-Gaza.php) I dont want to be the unwarranted reductionist here; lack of water is a problem for other countries too in the region. Political tension is so high that sharing water resources is not even an option in peaceful terms. I remember from Dawit that there is an ongoing dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia on Nile. It seems there is only one way to end the all kinds of conflicts in the region; an EU kind of structure…

]]> By: lash http://globalistan.org/where-does-all-the-rain-go/#comment-234 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:03:36 +0000 http://www.globalistan.org/?p=249#comment-234 This is a really interesting issue, and one that governments in Australia have also been trying to monitor for a few years. Different levels of restriction are applied in the different areas of the country based on the severity of drought. Where I live, in regional New South Wales, local government raised the level of water restriction to a Level 4 (of 8 ) earlier this year. This includes an indefinite ban on watering lawns between 10am and 5pm. The ban is put in place to help reduce average daily consumption from 20 megalitres to 16 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/11/2652446.htm) Seems reasonable, but there are some areas that have Level 7 restrictions in place, which forbid any use of water outside without a permit. Fines range from $200 AUD to several thousand for individuals, but mostly I think people comply to avoid community scrutiny – over years of drought Australians have become fairly water conscious.

Most areas have had to increase the level of their restrictions over the last couple of years and as a strategy it’s pretty hard to assess given that it is applied so differently across the country. Overall, it’s been criticised as being an unsustainable solution which will never help us to overcome the main issue, which is that of supply.

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