Most of the country is in the grip of drought and has been for some years. Much of New South Wales and the neighbouring states is in deep trouble with no water for cattle or crops and the Government has announced a range of measures to help stricken farmers. All the signs are that everyone had better get used to it. Earlier this year, a group of climate scientists warned that Australia faced higher temperatures, more severe droughts and bushfires, and if that weren’t bad enough, more tropical diseases as well. And you all thought we lived in a veritable paradise, didn’t you?
Well, if you live in a town or a city, you could go on believing that. Unlike the farmers, you don’t see your waterholes and rivers shrinking and your stock dying. Everything looks pretty much as normal unless you take a trip to one of the reservoirs serving your city. In Sydney, for example, they’re down to just over 40 per cent of capacity. They waited until the reservoirs were half-empty before stepping up the water restrictions and now you must not hose your lawn or garden except with a hand-hose and that before 10am and after 4pm on Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays. You can’t use a sprinkler or hose down your car at all and, if your swimming pool holds more than 10,000 litres, you can’t fill it.
Hardly draconian and yet, apparently, half of Sydney’s water is used on gardens. And, according to the Green Industries Group, 5,900 jobs were lost in gardening and related industries before the tighter restrictions above were introduced in June. There are some hard issues here for local politicians.
Here, if you take a drive over Red Hill and down the other side to Karangi, you can inspect Coffs’ own water supply at the Karangi Dam. It’s currently three-quarters full, so looking much healthier than the Sydney reservoirs and we still have the bulk of our annual rainfall to come. Nevertheless, you can keep track of water levels on the net http://www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/www/html/356-overview.asp and the restrictions in force here are at least as severe as those in Sydney.
Non-native plant - future limited?
I find this tougher approach rather comforting, though it seems we’re just as keen on watering our gardens as the Sydney-siders; after a period of rain, consumption drops because people aren’t out with hose pipes. Part of the problem is that people want lawns, which aren’t really a good idea in this climate, and that they’ve planted European and other non-native plants which need the water. The gardens between this house and the beach are incredibly verdant, but it’s not natural; a lot of watering goes on. On the other hand, I haven’t been near the native plants in our garden, planted by the landlord, since we moved in and they’re looking fine.
It all goes to show, I suppose, how much this country has been changed since Europeans arrived here. Can those changes be sustained in the face of global warming? Should they? Already there are signs that the population is tending to move toward the coast, giving up the unequal struggle in the interior. The number of people living in Coffs is predicted to rise from 62,000 to 90,000 by 2021. That’ll be quite a challenge for the people who manage the Karangi Dam.
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