Stunning ignorance and lies surround Perth water supply policies
June 19th, 2010 by Warwick HughesThis ABC online news item from Perth caught my eye, “Water prices up 40 per cent: Labor”. With Eric Ripper the Labor opposition leader saying, “Of course in a dry climate there is pressure on water prices..”
Wrong Mr Ripper, there is no “dry climate” over Perth dam catchments – see my graphic of 35 years of May-October catchments rain which averages near 900mm. Any water shortage in Perth is artificially induced by Govts failure to do simple things such as – manage catchments – clearing the Gnangara pines – cheaply desalinate weakly brackish water wasted from Wellington Dam and other local rivers (see my 2007 downloadable report). The only reason for this crazy state of affairs that I can see – is the Govts terror of hostile reactions from Greens.
Water prices up 40 per cent: Labor
Posted 20 June 2010
Labor claims WA households should brace for a further hike in the price of water. (ABC Local: SK)
The State Opposition Leader Eric Ripper says Western Australians are set to be hit with steep increases in water prices for the third year in a row.
Mr Ripper says the government’s budget estimate papers show water prices are set to rise by more than eight per cent next year.
He says the hike will mean water prices will have increased by more than 40 per cent, or $160 a year for the average household in three years.
“Of course in a dry climate there is pressure on water prices and I think extravagant users of water should pay the price, but water is also a basic utility for every family and there should be protection for that basic amount of water that everyone needs to use,” he said.
The Minister for Water Resources, Graham Jacobs has been contacted for comment.
Posted in News and Views, Water | 3 Comments »
June 21st, 2010 at 11:07 pm
It also makes you wonder how much they look into natural climatic cycles and how many scientists are now saying we are returning to the climate of the 60s with a cooling PDO which means cold and wet.
Curiously when I was doing some research on Warragamba Dam in Sydney (I remember as a kid it was often in flood with the news it could burst) and how recently the NSW government had been spending money on flood mitigation measures all the while telling us we were running out of water!
www.warragamba.net.au/page2.html
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:01 am
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December 31st, 2012 at 12:42 pm
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