Adelaide May Have to Ship in Water For Residents
30 September 2009
The Guardian reports that Australia’s fifth-biggest city, Adelaide, may need to ship water in to its residents because the water in the Murray River—Australia’s biggest river—is running so low and is becoming too salty.
Adelaide’s water crisis follows similar problems in cities around the world, as the combination of growing population, increasing agricultural use and global warming stretches resources to the limit. Experts are warning of permanent drought in many regions.
...“Another dry year will deplete our reservoirs and the water in the Murray will become too saline to drink. We are talking about 1.3 million people, who are not far off becoming reliant on bottled water. We are talking a national emergency,” said South Australian MP David Winderlich.
As early as next week, water from parts of the river may become too dangerous to drink, which would require the water authority to begin delivering supplies to hospitals, clinics, aged care facilities and local supermarkets in plastic bottles, said Winderlich.
The World Health Organization says the acceptable salinity for drinking water is 800 EV (electrical conductivity) units. Parts of the Murray are around 1,200 EC units. The water authority will begin shipping water when salinity hits 1,400 EC units.
Australia may face a permanently drier future due to global warming, climate scientists have suggested.
If this is only the tip of the iceberg - we're all in trouble.
Posted by: kelly | 30 September 2009 at 05:42 AM
Adelaide is a coastal city and could use concentrated solar thermal distillation. Not only would they get clean water, but produce electricity for most of the city.
Posted by: SJC | 30 September 2009 at 05:57 AM
It is not to be comprehended that Veolia does not have a water ship in the area ready to tie up to land and lay their hoses.
It now should be the responsibility of every coastal city to get all of its water from the ocean. Reverse osmosis will produce water from sea-water at a price below that which people are willing to pay. One or two Euros per thousand gallons is quite affordable.
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A. should put in very large desalinization units at San Diego and Los Angeles and trade the water produced for Colorado River water. California does not actually deserve much water from that River and it has a whole coastline for water access.
Australia can use its coal and uranium to operate multi-effect distillation units quite effectively. Reactors built only for sea water desalinization can be very cheap and the uranium fuel costs almost nothing per gallon of water produced. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 30 September 2009 at 01:16 PM