Water Smart Innovations Conference 08 (Las Vegas)

The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense programar holding a Water Smart Innovations Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada from October 8-10, 2008.

Billed as the largest conference of its kind in the world, this inaugural conference and expo will showcasing new water efficiency technology to industry and business from around the world.

From the look of the website, it’s shaping up to be as big as the PR speculates with so decent major sponsors including Rain Bird, MWH, Corma and Toto.

Check out the Water Smart Innovations Conference website for details.

Brisbane City Council Rainwater Tank Blowout

The Brisbane Times has reported that the Brisbane City Council has suffered a significant blow out in their budget for rainwater tank rebates.
So far rainwater tank rebates have cost Brisbane City Council in excess of $12.6 million, more than they has budgeted for in 2007-08.

I’m sure the council isn’t impressed with this, but I sure am. Goes to show how proactive people are being when it comes to saving water in their homes.

Stage six water restrictions announced for SE Qld

The Age reports that Level 6 water restrictions have been announced by the Queensland state government on Monday the 12th November. See my previous post about Stage 6 Water restrictions and what they mean.

Reduce the amount of water wasted on your garden

Here’s a 3 minute video from Retriever Communications, in cooperation with Sydney Water, on the benefits of using a field inspection program called the Love Your Garden program. The campaign is aiming to help Sydney siders reduce the amount of water wasted on gardens. View the Love Your Garden video.

Stage 6 Water Restrictions in SE Queensland

The Queensland government had suggest that level 6 water restrictions will soon be in place for South East Queensland. The draft for level 6 water restrictions seems to focus more on businesses than individuals, so there’s no real surprises for home users. Here’s what this will mean for domestic water use:

• penalties for water use above 200 litres per person in a household
• For such premises reticulated (town) water is not permitted to be used for the filling, partial filling, or topping up of a rainwater tank or rainwater storage facility

you can read more about stage 6 water restrictions on the Qld water commission website.

Rainwater tank safety warning

Water tank experts have expressed concerns over the safety of some water tank instillations. Experts are suggesting that if rainwater tanks have not been installed on a solid base, the footing may become unstable causing safety issues around homes.  They have also suggested that plastics used in imported tanks may degrade quickly in harsh Australian conditions.  Full report in the Sunday Mail.

School kids aim high for water saving target

Year 7 Berwick (Victoria) school kids from Kambrya College have begun a water saving initiative to reduce their average daily collective water use from 3800 down to 1000 litres.  Some of the water saving initiatives include reducing shower times and recycling gray water to the garden with buckets placed in the shower.  See the Star News for the full article.

Falling water tables

Treehugger has an interesting report on the issue of world wide water table levels.  The article states that many countries are over pumping their aquifers and that the current level of water harvesting from these aquifers is unsustainable.  When the aquifers run dry, irrigation of farmland will be reduced, thus reducing food supplies.  Check out the water table treehugger article.

Smoking ban in pubs and clubs will save water

How many times have you been our at a pub or night club only to wake up the next morning (somewhere) stinking of cigarette smoke?  Your hair and clothes smell like you’re a two pack a day smoker. The fist thing I do the morning after is throw all my clothes in the wash then take a long shower making sure I wash my hair twice to remove the stench.

This may be drawing a long bow, but given careful consideration, might the recent ban on smoking in Victorian pubs, with other states soon to follow, help save water?  I know if my jeans are relatively stain free and not smelling like a pack of Malbro’s the morning after, I’m more than happy to give them another ware.

Think of the thousands of ash trays that no longer have to be washed out at the end of the night by the bar staff down at your local.  Who know how much water banning smoking in pubs will save.

PM Announces Water and Energy Aaving Vouchers for Schools

Prime Minister John Howard today announced that the government would offer Australian Schools a $50,000 voucher to in assist in the instillation of solar hot water systems and water tanks.

The Environment minister Malcolm Turnbull also told ABC radio there would be a $1000 assistance package for families earning less than $100,000 to replace existing electric hot water systems to a solar.

Check out the full story in The Australian.