Our Water

Who Owns the Rights to our Water?

 

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Why?  I ask?  Why do we sell so much of our country?

Bushfires are common in the country but scientists say this year's season has come earlier and with more intensity due to a prolonged drought and hotter-than-usual temperatures. Pictured is a fire danger rating on Saturday at the Mangrove Dam in Central Coast 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7780983/Foreign-company-sells-89-billion-litres-Australian-water-rights-490m-drought.html?ito=email_share_article-image-share

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-07/remote-community-trials-hydropanels-to-shore-up-water-supply/12219818 

Remote community trials technology that makes water 'out of thin air'ABC Alice Springs /

By Katrina Beavan

Posted 2hhours ago, updated 1hhour ago 

The remote community of Yuelamu, about 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs, has longstanding drinking water supply issues.  In 2016, after an outbreak of toxic blue-green algae infected the dam, the entire community was using a single tap to access drinking water. 

Though each household now has one drinking water tap each, the Central Desert Regional Council said Yuelamu water security, like other communities in the region, was still threatened due to dwindling groundwater supplies.

Local Anmatjere man, Mack Murphy, said the water quality in the community was quite poor.

It's a bit salty, they have to treat the water from the main pump at the tank," he said.

Though he was excited to see how the trial went, Mr Murphy said residents would have to wait for the results to see if it could be the solution to the community's drinking water supply.

How does it work?

The council used a special purpose grant of about $120,000 from the Northern Territory Government to purchase the 30 hydropanels.

The panels, already in place in other parts of the country, use solar power to collect water vapour from the air, which is then mineralised and piped into a water tank ready for consumption.

Council chief executive, Diane Hood, said although she was initially sceptical about technology that claimed to make water "out of thin air" she was hopeful the trial would have positive results.

She said each panel was designed to produce 3 litres of a water a day and should function in a dry desert environment with low humidity.

"[Water security] is a fairly wide problem across our desert communities, so that makes this sort of trial really worth doing," Ms Hood said.

"If it works it's a different and a new solution that could really assist the communities."

10 hydropanels at Murrurundi Public SchoolHydropanels are already in place in other parts of the country, including at Murrurundi Public School in NSW.(ABC New England North West: Donal Sheil)Technology 'not so far-fetched'

Australian National University's Michael Roderick has specialised in water at the Research School of Earth Sciences.

He said, although he had not used this particular technology himself, he was familiar with how it worked and thought the concept was a good idea.

"The traditional idea is to grab the air into a container and cool the container until you get dew formed and then you collect that," he said.

"What's different about this technology is it uses a chemical to actually grab the water molecules as they're passing over it and the water molecules actually stick to it.

"[You then] stop-off the inlet and the outlet and then you've got the water trapped in there and then you can drive it off, condense it, and collect it, so it's not so far-fetched at all."

Professor Roderick said the water also needed to be mineralised in the process otherwise it was too pure to drink.

"Drinking pure water is not ideal for your body because the water will tend to rush into your cells, which have some salts in them," he said.

"So basically the idea is to add some simple salts to the water, in very low concentrations, to make it similar to bodily fluids."

Expansion dependent on results

As for whether the model could work in a larger community, Ms Hood said the council would have to wait to see the results of the trial.

But there are questions about when the trial will officially begin.

 Yuelamu is about 300km north-west of Alice Springs with a population of approximately 220 people.(Supplied: Central Desert Regional Council)

While the materials have arrived in Yuelamu, the company installing the technology is outside the NT and will need to factor in quarantine periods after crossing the border and before entering a remote community.

"I understand it'll take about two weeks to install and get everything hooked up once we can get the contractors into town," Ms Hood said.

"And then the trial will go over the drier winter months."

The council will be receiving real-time data of the trial through an app that monitors the water tank levels daily.

Posted 2hhours ago, updated 1hhour agoShareRelated StoriesThe 'magical, otherworldly' solution to sustainable clean drinking water NT community fears town's only water supply may run dry 'It's a matter of urgency': Dwindling water supply in remote Indigenous community More on:Alice SpringsMurrurundiAustralian National UniversityWater SupplyWater ManagementWaterDams and ReservoirsDroughtQuarantine - MedicalDesertsSolar EnergyIndigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander)States and TerritoriesSustainable Development     

 

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