Petition to Pursue Water Harvesting, Reclamation, and Recycling to Secure Sydney’s Water Supply
To the President and Members of the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL of New South Wales in Parliament Assembled: The humble petitioners and citizens of New South Wales call upon the Legislative Council to request the NSW State Government:
1. Abandon its current plans to build a desalinisation plant in Kurnell or Sydney’s East. A desalinisation plant is incredibly expensive and is a major electricity consumer and air polluter. The 600,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases it would emit are equivalent to putting an extra 130,000 cars on Sydney’s roads.
2. Create a sustainable water system for Sydney based on, but not limited to:
a. HARVESTING WATER – storm water that is captured through run-off and kept clean and unpolluted for reuse.b. RECYCLING WATER – used household or industrial water, also known as ‘grey water’, that can be reused in applications where drinkable quality water is not required (ie. watering gardens, flushing toilets, etc.).
c. RECLAMING WATER – treating wastewater that is pumped out to sea from North Head, Bondi and Malabar. Currently Sydney Water is expelling seven-times more raw and partially treated sewage into the ocean than any other Australian utility. Moderate infrastructure investment could reclaim up to 400 gigalitres-a-year at a fraction of the financial and energy costs of desalinisation.
3. Allow, in the interests of representative and responsible government, citizens to submit public comment on any future water infrastructure.
Supporting the campaign starts here by clicking here to download the petition. Please encourage all concerned citizens to sign and then mail to our office so they can be delivered to Parliament.
