The farmers are right
Posted by Melissa on | June 26, 2007
I was surprised to read in yesterday’s paper that the government had decided to step back from the requirement that all new houses include either a rainwater tank or solar panels, because this might add a bit of cost to the price of putting up your new dream home. How can we continue to talk about individual inconvenience in this era of dams falling to all-time lows and public money being spent in the billions to desalinate water (and do unknown damage to the environment with the salty leftovers)? Oh, wait, I see, we won’t encourage water tanks ‘cos then ‘people’ will have to buy water from the desalination factory…
But I digress. The farmers are right. City dwellers should learn about saving water. Living with a tank is the best tool for teaching users to turn off the tap. I have childhood memories of parents banging on the bathroom door to remind you to hurry up in the shower and of carrying the rinsing water from the washing machine down the driveway to water trees. And each time I pass those towering trees that were fostered by (resentful) teenagers bearing buckets through hot Northern Tableland summers, I know what water is worth. Learning how to save water is really easy stuff to get into the habit of doing and if you grow up with it, it will never leave you.
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2 Responses to “The farmers are right”
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June 26th, 2007 @ 10:58 am
But isn’t the bigger issue with new houses that a rainwater tank or solar hot water is not enough? Studies show that new houses (ie those built after the requirement for tanks/solar hot water) have a bigger environmental footprint than those built before. That’s because of things like poor design (windows with no eaves), poor insulation, use of energy inefficient globes and appliances, no grey water recycling, etc. I’ll wait and see what the revised standards look like- I don’t mind a bit of flexibility provided the end result is an improvement on what we’ve currently got. I was encouraged to see that new standards would apply to renovations as well as new homes- when are we going to see more incentives to retro-fit houses built before 2007- they must surely make up a huge proportion of all houses and therefore all household energy/water use.
June 26th, 2007 @ 1:03 pm
I can’t understand why new homes and renovations are notobligated to be as eco friendly as possible. If that makes them more expensive and means the wide screen TV and new Ford Falcon has to wait for a few years then so be it.
Its good for the community which is a cost worth paying.
Why can’t the Govt see this?