Amazingly enough, Australia is a country although surrounded by water - faces drout and water restrictions on significant levels.  Water restrictions are in full force here and what that means to us is that there’s no watering the lawn of flowers in the garden - absolutely no hose, can’t wash your own car, people are encouraged to use low-flow shower heads and take less than three minute showers, and there are government rebates for purchasing your very own water tank where home water (wash, sink, shower) is recycled into the tank and is reused for the garden. My kids will never run through the sprinkler on a hot summer’s day.  But it’s more than this, drinking water is a constant worry for the future, but the government is seriously considering one option, although it will free up more water for drinking, isn’t something that’s going to put a dent in the Australian drout.

The answer is Sewage?

Treated sewage, which will be used for irrigation of parks and gardens, agricultural/ horticultural irrigation, watering parks and recreational areas, some industrial processes, and toilet flushing and garden watering in suburban dual pipe schemes. But will this be enough? How can a country surrounded by water even think of this as an option? Especially when there are viable methods of recycling sea water through desalinization treatment in order to provide clean and potable water appropriate for drinking as well.  What’s behind this decision? Is this the right choice? Or a cheap replacement for the real thing… a solution.

Currently the Eastern Treatment Plant, located in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne where I and another 1.5 million people live, treats the sewage for re-entry back into the ocean after filtering and treatment. If approved, in 2010 this plant it will double the amount of recycled water recorded in 2004.

Regardless, I hate to see the government taking the easy way out instead of working toward a more useful desalinization plant (converting sea water into drinking water) and thinking about the future of Australia and Melbourne in general to help with drout relief on a large scale for future generations - a solution instead of a quick fix.

Website of the Month

I’m going to start with a website of the month here as a blog segment. This month I’d like to introduce a span of websites that are out there on the web that you may or may not have heard of.  Photography, art, near you, familiar scenes… for me it’s Melbourne Today which is a daily blog of photos from my town. There’s probably one in your town too. Check out Melbourne Today and then google your own city or scroll down the page on Melbourne Today and see the list of other beautiful cities around the world.

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Mental Status: We’ve had a crazy couple weeks, we are just chugging along. Mothers Day was wonderful, spending time with Birdie’s parents and I had a nice time speaking to my sister-in-law’s Mother as well Bronwyn. I was also happy to speak to my Mom this week and wish her a Happy Birthday and a Happy Mothers Day.
Book:  Reading “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, an Australian writer, but the book was handed down from my Mom - who always loves to work on my problems.  *Smooch*
Favourite Thing Today: My friend Marilyn in Dallas sent me a link to the alumni/reunion website for my high school in Houston!  Thanks baby!  I’m registered.
Favourite Thing this Week: Saw Spiderman 3 with Brent & Mel. Movie wasn’t my favourite but our night for dinner and a movie was great. Also thanks to beautiful Mel for the potted Tulips for our Anniversary - they are beautiful.