Recommendation report for water provision methods In an arid or semi-arid region 1 Introduction Water shortage Is a very serious problem In arid and semi-arid regions such as Australia. These regions are very vulnerable to drought, and the impacts drought tends to be more serious for the environment and the communities which rely on the land for food. This problem of water shortage Is happening due to the huge rise In population and also the increase in the use of water for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes. There are different ways of water provision but two of the most
In Australia Is desalination and waste water recycling. The purpose of this report Is to compare these two water provision methods for Australia and give a final recommendation according to the comparison of cost, environmental impact and public acceptance on which methods Is the most suitable for a country Like Australia. 2 Background “Australia Is the driest Inhabited continent on the Earth with one of the most variable climates, and among the world’s highest consumers of water. ” (Apostolic et al, 2011) The annual water use in Australia is always ranked in the first three positions in the oral.
In Australia, a large portion of the outback, surrounding the central desert regions, lies within the semi-arid climate regime. According to Gill (201 1), in the last 20 years, Australia Government had significant advancement in the technology in water provision appliances, desalination technology and water recycling which all leads to have more capacity to refine the additional water. In addition, she also stated that no single technology will be enough, but a combination will be need and it is available.
In addition. Gill also stated that there are at least eight water recycling retirement plants in Australia’s capital cities and the technology of recycling water is much more efficient now. However the rainfall of all area in Australia is always in a fluctuating condition. This may cause some problems, for examples the water for flushing in the toilet, general water supply for residents and water for farming. 3 Presentation of the options 3. 1 Recycling water Recycling water, also called reclaimed water.
According to National Program for Sustainable Irrigation (20061 the generic term for water reclamation and reuse is water recycling, where the water comes out will call recycled water. . 2 Desalination Desalination Is a process in which remove salt and impurities from the sea, and make “There are two popular basic techniques used to remove salt and other dissolved solids from water: distillation, reverse osmosis (OR) and electro dialysis. ” (U. S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1988) At first, sea water goes through a sediment treatment filter to remove the larger particles.
Next, reverse osmosis will undergo. It means water under very high pressure will pass through a thin film composite membrane to remove the salt and impurities. After that, before water was even to people to use, lime, Chlorine and Fluoride will be added in it. 4 Requirements 4. 1 Cost The cost of the project can be defined by 2 ways. One is tangible cost and the other is intangible cost. For tangible cost, it includes the total amount of money to be invested the project, such as machinery, wages of worker and plant building materials.
The intangible cost will be the environment impact that caused in the country and the living of residents. 4. 2 Environment Impact When large project is planned to be built in a city, environmental impact will be existed. For example water pollution, air standard and excavation of land. So whenever there is a project in region of a country or public area, the environmental impact must be considered and to be evaluated before project started. 4. 3 Public Acceptance Public acceptance is one of the important factors in designing the water system in the arid regions.
Government needs to collect public opinion since many infrastructures will build near resident area. This will affect the daily lives of people. There will be many voices feedback from residents. The government should arrange consultation meeting to collect resident opinion. All this preparation work is important which can provide a confidence to the residents or the whole urban. It will affect to our next generation if it does not well planned. 5 Comparison/ evaluation of options 5. 1 cost Take Queensland as an example, there have both recycled water project and desalination take place.
For water recycling, according to GOD (2009) Western Corridor Recycled Water Project is the largest water recycling scheme in Australia’s largest water recycling scheme and the third-largest advanced water treatment project in the world. It costs AU$2. 5 billion for this project to build up three water retirement plants in South East Queensland which can produce up to 232 million litters of purified recycled water every day. In contrast to this, Gold Coast Desalination Plant in Outgun is a seawater desalination facility which involved a 1. Km marine intake and outlet tunnels, with pump station in LOLL/s by using the method of reverse osmosis. This investment Just requires AU$I . Billion in total, but there are only 133 million litters of water produced by the plant per day. Despite high cost in recycling water the amount of water comes out from desalination is less than recycling water. Moreover, there are 3 treatment plants for water recycling project, only one for the Gold Coast Desalination. As a result, water recycling is comparative not expensive.
During desalination process, chemicals used during different stages of the process may be discharged in a solution with the brine or may be discharged to a treatment plant. Water that has been passed through the reverse osmosis process is more acidic and can corrode the distribution system, leaching iron and other toxic metals from the pipes. Cobras (2009) point out that this drastic increase may stress or even ill local marine populations by changing fish migration patterns, feeding grounds, or critical habitat. There are only a few of damage to the environment by using water recycling.
But this can improved environmental outcomes for biota, habitats and ecological processes. GOD (2009) also notice that the company who owned this project will provided an environment and approvals team to Department of Infrastructure and Planning to undertake Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (Easies) in early project stages. 5. 3 Public acceptance At first, recycled water was not probably accepted by those Australians. Because they think it is dirty to drink, but after they have experienced a decade of record of low rainfall, people changed their mind.
Besides, recycled water will be classified into classes A-D, depends on the state/territory or federal guidelines followed. Despite the environmental impact, public image in the county will be the consider point. Desalination may let people think of non-environmental and pollution. People mostly like to live in a place with fresh air and less pollution. 6 Conclusion We knew that to find a land to install a water supply system in arid or semi-arid egging have many factors that government needs to be considered.
After a number of consultants from public and evaluate the project size which may affect the environment and public area, the money to be invested compared with the beneficial to region, the government decision is important. In this case, water recycling will be recommended. Nowadays the whole world is talking about environmental or how to save the earth resources and anti-pollution. Water recycling can achieve the public and green organization expectation 7 Recommendations At last, the most important point is government needs to deliver the message to their peoples to save water in their daily living.
If people do not have change their mind set, I can imagine how many plants should be built to satisfy the demanding. We know that the living standard of people in a county or city is getting better to better now. Many people may not aware the important of resources that they use in their land. The result will be resources exhausted and our next generation will have nothing for them. Despite using the water recycling system, we still need to keep on other alternatives are better than existing which is less impact to the environment and make our earth green.
