This story is about Broken Hill Australia, and it's effort to secure water supplies. Now, I hesitate to mention anything about Oz, especially with the millions of people there who read my blog, but I found this interesting.
They have mined almost everything out, so this city now lives on tourism, which means gardens in the desert, and lots of air conditioning. So, they need water, and there are many innovative ways to conserve it (including the 'liquid solar blanket' concept). But what I find surprising is that there is a huge cotton farm sucking up all the water! This is like growing rice in the deserts of California. The ancient concept of water rights for ridiculous farming is the main culprit behind most water shortages, including the Everglades.
ps. I doubt whether this 'silicone monolayer' thing is that great for dams. Wouldn't it heat up the water tremendously? Wouldn't lots of little plants love that? I'll have to wait for the Ozi-ites to chime in.
3 comments:
My ears are burning.
They grow rice in the Murray-Darling basin, too. But if you want an illustration of sheer water-management lunacy, ask Google about Cubie Weir; then realise that's at the very top of the Darling River, which supposedly feeds all that clever diversionary stuff at Broken Hill. I have visions of a dam-buster plane being hauled out of honourable retirement to blow the stupid thing wide open...
Cubbie Weir, that should be.
Yeah for Ozzie loonyness!
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