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supply from dams or rivers. This would seem to be sensible at first glance, i.e., to provide a reliable backup if the drought continues. But the problem is really very complex. Why should expensive potable water from a desalination plant be feed into the current reticulation system when maybe 90% of it is wasted on non-potable uses, such as flushing the toilet, watering the garden or washing your car? You need two reticulation systems, one for potable water and another bulk one for general home usage. This is not possible except for new housing developments. More should be done to capture and use the rainfall that falls on a city, which if efficiently done may avoid the need for a desalination plant. Many such schemes are currently in action in the greater Adelaide region which pleases me. But will the pollies make the right decision for us, and what is the sensible decision?

4. The current water shortage in Australia and New Zealand is a worry with dams at 50% capacity or less. Many of these dams are used for generating hydroelectricity, particularly in Tasmania and New Zealand where the geography and higher rainfall makes this a sensible development, but the downside is that electricity generation is at the mercy of the weather!

The present Government political spin (pushed by the Greens and media) is to boost the use of renewable energy resources, in particular wind and solar energy, which is just another disaster in the making. For example, in New Zealand under favorable weather conditions (dams full) it is estimated one could generate 70% of normal electricity demand from renewable resources, very predominantly hydro. Now in times of drought the most recent estimate (June 08) is hydrogeneration 50%, thermal (coal and gas) 45%, geothermal 5% and wind less than 1% and this is with a power consumption estimated to increase by 150 MW per year! The NZ Labour Government response to this problem is to build windmills all over the place! This further reliance on an unreliable electricity supply spells more trouble for the Auckland industrial region which is prone to power brownouts and blackouts.

And watch out in the UK! The EU now has the goal of having 20% power generation from renewable resources by 2020! Why? The Green bureaucrats of the EU believe we must save the world from polluting greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming (a compound nonsense) so it is essential to move in this direction. In response to this edict, PM Gordon Brown (UK) has announced

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