A drying climate

Episode: 9
Title: A drying climate
Broadcast: Sunday January 8th 2017
Presenter: Christina Morrissy

Our climate is getting warmer with dwindling rainfall our dams are becoming drier, with Western Australia’s population expected to grow to 3.5 million by 2050 our water supplies will fade if continual steps are not taken to preserve our water provisions. Experts like Professor Anas Ghandouani and his team at CRS for water sensitive cities, work closely with the Water Corporation to research securing our water supplies.

  • Perth rainfall has significantly declined over the last 30 years; in some areas we record less than 10% of water there that used to fall in the past- and that’s quite a drastic change to our supplies.
  • The weather is hotter due to heat waves and urbanization, this is in the way we design and build, you may find that one side of the street is hotter than the other in some areas, its dependent on the number of trees in the area, having the right vegetation growing and the colour’s of the urban landscape- all these factors can affect the temperature of up to 10 degrees.
  • Green areas can use a lot of water, and there are ways to have green areas without spending too much water on them, and it’s all in the landscape design, development and the type of vegetation.
  • And the most important part that people are doing to keep green areas is the use of recycled water and grey water, with some open public spaces now using exclusively recycled water.
  • The Water Corporation has done great work in replenishment of ground water sources using treated recycled water, and we are now looking at the recovery of resources of this water in terms of nutrients to apply on gardens- so it’s not just about the water but all the goodness you can find in say storm water or waste water that you can actually use to support a green city.
  • We have done well to save water in WA, however there is a gap in the future where we predict more water preservation and steps to do so will be needed.

Water Corporation
P: 13 13 85
W: www.watercorporation.com.au

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