Opinion
Issue No. 36 - August/September 2007
Wean Adelaide off the Murray
The State Government's blinkered focus on cutting water consumption by merely turning off the taps is hampering South Australia's long-term ability to solve the water crisis, says Darryl Gobbett, Chief Economist at Adelaide-based Prescott Securities.
Darryl says the State needs to adopt a completely new mindset to solve its water crisis.
“By putting all our eggs in the Murray basket, we are closing our minds to market-based and technological solutions on our doorstep. The time has come for Adelaide to wean itself off its over-reliance on the River Murray and consider alternative ways of securing the State's water resources. We should be looking more closely at desalination plants and place much more focus on harvesting the city's rainfall, recycling, making our water distribution more efficient as well as getting the right price structures in place,” Darryl says.
“Building bigger dams to extract more water from the Murray when sustainable supplies from that source look likely to be on a downwards trend for climatic and environmental repair reasons is not a long-term solution.
“This is particularly pertinent considering the Government is aiming for two million people to be living in the State in 40 year's time - most of whom will live in Adelaide.
“There will also be more stress on the State's water resources from the rapidly expanding mining sector and the need for more power plants.
“The City should be...
