New York Times - From Sewage, Added Water for Drinking ...

Excerpt from the New York Times:

From Sewage, Added Water for Drinking

27 November 2007

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. — It used to be so final: flush the toilet, and waste be gone.

But on Nov. 30, for millions of people here in Orange County, pulling the lever will be the start of a long, intense process to purify the sewage into drinking water — after a hard scrubbing with filters, screens, chemicals and ultraviolet light and the passage of time underground.

On that Friday, the Orange County Water District will turn on what industry experts say is the world's largest plant devoted to purifying sewer water to increase drinking water supplies. They and others hope it serves as a model for authorities worldwide facing persistent drought, predicted water shortages and projected growth.

The process, called by proponents "indirect potable water reuse" and "toilet to tap" by the wary, is getting a close look in several cities.

The San Diego City Council approved a pilot plan in October to bolster a drinking water reservoir with recycled sewer water. The mayor vetoed the proposal as costly and unlikely to win public acceptance, but the Council will consider overriding it in early December.

Water officials in the San Jose area announced a study of the issue in September, water managers in South Florida approved a plan in November calling for abundant use of recycled wastewater in the coming years in part to help restock drinking water supplies, and planners in Texas are giving it serious consideration.

"These types of projects you will see springing up all over the place where there are severe water shortages," said Michael R. Markus, the general manager of the Orange County district, whose plant, which will process 70 million gallons a day, has already been visited by water managers from across the globe.

The finished product, which district managers say exceeds drinking water standards, will not flow directly into kitchen and bathroom taps; state regulations forbid that.

Instead it will be injected underground, with half of it helping to form a barrier against seawater intruding on groundwater sources and the other half gradually filtering into aquifers that supply 2.3 million people, about three-quarters of the county. The recycling project will produce much more potable water and at a higher quality than did the mid-1970s-era plant it replaces.

The Groundwater Replenishment System, as the $481 million plant here is known, is a labyrinth of tubing and tanks that sucks in treated sewer water the color of dark beer from a sanitation plant next door, and first runs it through microfilters to remove solids. The water then undergoes reverse osmosis, forcing it through thin, porous membranes at high pressure, before it is further cleansed with peroxide and ultraviolet light to break down any remaining pharmaceuticals and carcinogens.

The result, Mr. Markus said, "is as pure as distilled water" and about the same cost as buying water from wholesalers.

Recycled water, also called reclaimed or gray water, has been used for decades in agriculture, landscaping and by industrial plants.

And for years, treated sewage, known as effluent, has been discharged into oceans and rivers, including the Mississippi and the Colorado, which supply drinking water for millions.

But only about a dozen water agencies in the United States, and several more abroad, recycle treated sewage to replenish drinking water supplies, though none here steer the water directly into household taps. They typically spray or inject the water into the ground and allow it to percolate down to aquifers.

Namibia's capital, Windhoek, among the most arid places in Africa, is believed to be the only place in the world that practices " direct potable reuse" on a large-scale, with recycled water going directly into the tap water distribution system, said James Crook, a water industry consultant who has studied the issue.

The projects are costly and often face health concerns from opponents.

Such was the case on Nov. 6 in Tucson, where a wide-ranging ballot measure that would have barred the city from using purified water in drinking water supplies failed overwhelmingly. The water department there said it had no such plans but the idea has been discussed in the past.

John Kromko, a former Arizona state legislator who advocated for the prohibition, said he was skeptical about claims that the recycling process cleanses all contaminants from the water and he suggested that Tucson limit growth rather than find new ways to feed it.

"We really don't know how safe it is," he said. "And if we controlled growth we would never have to worry about drinking it."

Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego, in vetoing the City Council plan there, said it "is not a silver bullet for the region's water needs" and the public has never taken to the idea in the 15 years it has been discussed off and on.

Although originally estimated at $10 million for the pilot study in San Diego, water department officials said the figure would be refined, and the total cost of the project might be hundreds of millions of dollars. Although the Council wants to offset the cost with government grants and other sources, Mr. Sanders predicted it would add to already escalating water bills.

"It is one of the most expensive kinds of water you can create," said Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the mayor. "It is a large investment for a very small return."

San Diego, which imports about 85 percent of its water because of a lack of aquifers, asked residents this year to curtail water use.

Here in Orange County, the project, a collaboration between the water and sanitation districts, has not faced serious opposition, in part because of a public awareness and marketing campaign.

Early on, officials secured the backing of environmental groups, elected leaders and civic groups, helped in part by the fact the project eliminated the need for the sanitation district to build a new pipe spewing effluent into the ocean.

Orange County began purifying sewer water in 1976 with its Water Factory 21, which dispensed the cleansed water into the ground to protect groundwater from encroaching seawater.

That plant has been replaced by the new one, with more advanced technology, and is intended to cope with not only current water needs but also expectations that the county's population will grow by 500,000 by 2020.

Still, said Stephen Coonan, a water industry consultant in Texas, such projects proceed slowly.

"Nobody is jumping out to do it," he said. "They want to make sure the science is where it should be. I think the public is accepting we are investigating it."

See - From Sewage, Added Water for Drinking.

QWC a damp sponge on water wasting businesses ...

No big stick being taken to big business on water savings.

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Industry failing to toe line on level 6

29 November 2007

Tough talk by the Queensland Water Commission has yet to result in major fines against businesses flouting water restrictions.

More than 100 businesses in southeast Queensland – each using more than 10 million litres of water a year – have yet to submit plans for reducing consumption.

After missing a state deadline in July, the companies risked fines of up to $124,875 from councils.

But so far the biggest councils in the region have penalised only nine businesses with fines of $750.
...

See - Industry failing to toe line on level 6.

4350water blog supports 'wholesale change' in '08 ...

Toowoomba Regional Election 2008 ...

With the Federal election out of the way, word on the street is that announcements will soon begin by candidates for the Toowoomba Regional Council in 2008.

It will be a keenly fought election with many people wanting wholesale change down at city hall.

Keep an eye on press coverage.

More soon ...

Flush out the toilets ...

Excerpt from oneworld.net:

Flush out the toilets, concludes World Toilet meet

27 November 2007

While the United Nations estimates that 2.6 billion people are living without proper sanitation and without access to potable water, those using flush toilets are converting precious water into dangerous effluents.

Sanitation experts who gathered in the Korean capital for the assembly, that concluded on Sunday, called for a major paradigm shift and even a ‘back to nature’ approach to the disposal of human waste.

"We are on the wrong track," said Hubert J. Gijzen, a biotechnologist representing UNESCO’s Indonesian office.

Newer ways, all agreed, were needed to be developed to dispose human excreta. If flush toilets have to be used they must be redesigned to reduce water consumption, or else use recycled water.

‘’The current conventional sanitation systems will not be able to achieve the (United Nations’) Millennium Development Goal,’’ said lawmaker James D. Mamit from Malaysia, who is environment advisor to its state of Sarawak.

Ecologists are calling for a major sanitation reformation, along the concept of ‘EcoSan’ or ecological sanitation, that would contribute towards water conservation and mitigating surface and ground water pollution, thereby reducing the risk of water-borne diseases.

Ecological ways

One of the technologies being widely advocated involves separation of faeces, urine and grey water, thereby minimising the volume of water needed to flush away excreta. Valuable nutrients are recovered, and the residual matter converted into biogas and used as fuel.

This rethinking would not only require innovation, research, training and awareness-raising but an abandonment of conventional water management while developing strategies that are effective, low-tech and low-cost as well.

Mamit suggests the inclusion of EcoSan concept at the policy level and suitable changes to existing legislations in many countries that favour conventional, centralised sanitary systems.

"It is understandable that these impacts were not foreseen at a time when the world population was only around one billion people, and global change pressures of today were not foreseen," said Gijzen.

But with climate change, population explosion, major urbanisation, which has in turn led to informal settlements, the old method of removing human waste is no longer sustainable.

Public health hazard

"No doubt water is life, but it is also a killer because we are contaminating our water," says Gijzen, adding that wastewater treatment was costly and still does not produce safe and pathogen-free effluents.

"In developing regions, effluents get dumped into water courses untreated due to the phenomenal costs of sewer collection systems and high rate of wastewater treatment technology. And with more than five billion people living near contaminated water we can never hope to get rid of water-borne epidemics or meet the Millennium Development Goals."

If taking the "toilet out of the water cycle" suggestion is taken seriously it is possible, Gijzen says, to have greener, eco-friendly cities 50 years from now while providing a toilet which everyone on the globe can afford.

"Living in a home next to a water course, which not only has crystal clear water, but which you can you can actually drink from, can be a reality,’’ says Gijzen.

Eco-friendly models

One promising design for a toilet, that attracted attention at the Seoul meet, actually recycles water using a biological and physical process and sends it back into the toilet bowl.

Keon Ki- Lee, a Korean engineer who designed the system, says the toilet can be set up with or without a waterline or a drainage system and is environment friendly because the system does not produce a water discharge. "It has been received favourably by our local government," explained Lee.

A new UNESCO project Sustainable Urban Water Management Improves Tomorrow’s City’s Health, or SWITCH for short, already implemented with a hefty budget of 32 million US dollars for a period of five years, is already being implemented.

A whole range of eco-friendly models are being tried and tested in nine demo cities which include Bogota, Beijing, Ghana, Lima, Colombia and Alexandria. Schemes include those for the rational use of water, effluent reuse, dry sanitation, urine separation and nutrient recovery.

Mamit shared the experience of an EcoSan model established in two residential rural schools in Sarawak where toilets were modified to accommodate one flushing in a day using up to two litres of water. The biogas produced has helped save over 500 dollars per month that was spent on buying cooking gas for the school kitchen.

See - Flush out the toilets.

USQ axes 260 degrees - mass retrenchment is 'exciting' ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

University of Southern Queensland to axe 130 jobs

27 November 2007

Up to 130 staff, including academics, will lose their University of Southern Queensland jobs next year as hundreds of unpopular courses are axed.

The university's vice-chancellor, Bill Lovegrove, yesterday shocked about 800 staff who assembled for his announcement at the Toowoomba campus.

He outlined a restructuring program with cost savings – including wages – of $8.5 million a year, with 260 degrees to be phased out.

"This is all about renewing the university for the next 10 years," Mr Lovegrove told The Courier-Mail.

"It's highly exciting for the university, with the downside we'll have fewer staff to do it with," he said.

But National Tertiary Education Union branch president Brad Astbury said the mood among staff was anything but excitement.

"There was stunned silence," Mr Astbury said.

"Some people feel in danger of losing their careers because Toowoomba doesn't have a lot of opportunities for them, so they might have to consider moving to another major centre."

See - USQ - 260 degrees to go.

Might be a few less blog visitors from the university ...

John Howard - someone should thank him for his service ...

See - First the wipeout, now the clean-out.

KRudd's poisoned chalice? Not a good election to win ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Not a good election to win

26 November 2007
...

[t]his is a bad election for Kevin Rudd to win. He inherits an economy that, to every outward sign is in good shape but, after a record expansion phase of more than 16 years, is overdue for a cyclical correction.

So the chances of a recession occurring sometime during his reign are high - almost guaranteed. Worse, the chances of a recession in the next three years are high.

Do you see what that would mean? Mr Howard and his treasurer would go down in the electorate's mind as the exemplary economic managers they always assured us they were.

But Labor's reputation as bad economic managers would be burnt into the brains of a generation. Let the Laborites near an economy and the first thing they do is stuff it up.

Federal governments invariably get a second term as a matter of course. Even Whitlam's did. But should the recession occur during his first term it's easy to see Mr Rudd being dispatched at the first opportunity.

That would be through no fault of his own. He would simply be a victim of the vagaries of the business cycle. But try telling that to the punters. They have no deep understanding of economic cause and effect. They judge governments not so much by what they do as by what happens on their watch.
...

See - Not a good election to win.

Clouds form over Australian Rain Corporation ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

Clouds form over rain-making technology

23 November 2007

Rain-making technology funded by the Australian Government has been given the thumbs down by international scientists, says an adviser to the World Meteorological Organisation.

Dr Roelof Bruintjes is a cloud physicist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. He advises the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on rainfall enhancement.

Dr Bruintjes was commenting on technology soon to be tested in Queensland by the Australian Rain Corporation. He is currently in Australia advising the Queensland Government on cloud seeding.

The Sydney-based company, which was recently allocated $10 million from the Australian Government Water Fund, hopes to use forthcoming trials to show its technology can bring rain.

The technology is being tested to see if it can make new rain clouds from blue skies by generating ions in the atmosphere.

This is very different from existing rain-making technology, which relies on seeding existing clouds, and has been carried out for decades in Tasmania and the Snowy Mountains.

Some Australian experts have already publicly said they are sceptical of the new ionisation technology and Dr Bruintjes agrees.

"I don't think it's money well spent to be honest with you - as far as I'm concerned it's physically not possible," he says.

"Nobody can make or chase away a cloud. Nobody can make rain out of nothing."

Making clouds from scratch?

But proponents of the technology say the criticism is unjust.

Scientists involved in testing the Australian Rain Corporation technology, including Professor Jürg Keller of the University of Queensland, say the ionisation system uses a ground-based device to attract water molecules.

These condense, generating heat that, in turn, triggers an up-draft of the kind that occurs when clouds form naturally.

But Dr Bruintjes says WMO experts have already warned against using such ionisation techniques because they are not based on accepted scientific principles.

He says while it is possible to ionise atmospheric particles, it is not possible to modify the thermodynamic structure of the atmosphere and so there is no current credible theory to support the idea.

He also says evaluations of the technology in the United Arab Emirates and Mexico have shown it is not useful in enhancing rainfall.

Dr Bruintjes does not understand why Australia has embraced the technology.

"Any country that is in a severe drought is desperate to use any type of technology and maybe this is what has happened in Australia," he said.

Queanbeyan-based sustainability consultant Andrew Campbell is a former chief executive officer of Land and Water Australia. He is advising the Australian Rain Corporation on the Queensland trials.

He says it is prudent to investigate whether the technology works in Australian conditions, even if scientists do not understand how it works.

"From a water policy perspective, the much more important question is whether or not this technology enhances rainfall," he said.

"If it does we can analyse the mechanisms at our leisure. If it doesn't then that's a completely academic exercise."

Mr Campbell says he is not aware of any prior evaluation of the technology Australian Rain Corporation will be trialing.

But Dr Bruintjes is adamant the technology is the same Russian-developed system that has been promoted over many years by various companies around the world, and which the WMO has warned against.

Competitors?

Mr Campbell says criticism of the competing ionisation technology is not justified.

"It's understandable that people involved in cloud seeding are concerned about a competitive technology," he said.

"But until it is properly scientifically evaluated, claims either for or against aren't credible."

Dr Bruintjes agrees there is an urgent to investigate rain enhancement technologies but says there are better ways to spend the money.

He says one problem is that it is very difficult to determine the success of any rain enhancement technology because of natural variation in rainfall.

Dr Bruintjes says it is important to develop a better understanding of how rain forms in clouds, and how technologies with known physical mechanisms can manipulate this.

"We need to focus on understanding rather than just going out blindly testing technology we don't understand," he said.

See - Clouds gathering.

Seems unlikely they would get any additional funding from a KRudd Labor government ...

Macfarlane retains Groom (updated) ...

Anyone getting less votes than the informals (2,075) should really consider whether they have a place in federal politics.

The results:

Pauline Collins GRN - 3,411

Grahame Arthur Volker IND - 498

Irene Jones CEC - 226

Peter Charles Findlay FFP - 3,181

Rob Berry IND - 575

Shalina Najeeb DEM - 511

Chris Meibusch ALP - 25,135

Rod Jeanneret IND - 411

Ian Macfarlane LIB - 37,431

Informal - 2,075

Total - 71,379

Turnout - 81.69%

See - AEC - Groom.


Quick summary:

- Labor wins government.

- Turnbull returned with small swing.

- Howard may lose his seat.

- Bartlett loses his senate spot.

Rudd now has 3 years to see if he can resist the unions which put him in power and save Australia from a wage-push inflationary spiral which will knock Australia into recession.

Time will tell.

It seems unlikely that the Toowoomba range bypass will now be built.

And the Brisbane Mayor is now the most senior Liberal in a position of government in Australia ...

Jandowae floods ...

Excerpt from the Sunday Mail:

24 November 2007

For the first time in 15 years, floods cut off all roads to the drought-affected town of Jandowae on the Darling Downs.

Two days of heavy downfall, including 111mm on Friday night, brought much needed rain to the area, 48km north of Dalby.

Local councillor and SES controller Tom Bradley said flood waters had reached the floors of several of the lower-set houses in the town but there were no plans for evacuations.

See - Jandowae floods.

PM Howard's secret election video ...

See - Nicholson - Howard's secret election video.

Also see - Keating's dream.

Federal election: something to consider ...

Three polls released on the final full day of the federal election campaign have predicted wildly different results tomorrow night, with one showing a Labor landslide, another showing a modest swing to the Coalition and a third giving the Prime Minister a fighting chance on holding on to power.

Recent 4350water blog search terms ...

They just get more and more interesting:

- darling downs coal seam gas

- kevin rudd wolfdene

- "australian rain corp"

- "kevin 007"

- independent federal candidates for groom

- groom candidates 2007

- water vocabulary, engineering, wiring, or electrical terms used with water management, waste water, storm drainage

- pauline collins election groom

- what is the biologist most likely to do that would affect the quality of the water you drink?

- shalina najeeb

- i love BNE

- rob berry + groom

- rouse hill

- san diego recycled water

- who was the toowoomba recycled drinking water proposal sent to?

- queensland csg environmental arrow

- rod jeanneret independent

- grahame arthur volker

SEQ: drought-breaking rain predicted ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Drought-breaking rain coming

22 November 2007

Souteast Queensland's devastating drought may be coming to an end, forecasters believe.

The news comes as Brisbane businesses today face substantial fines if they do not conserve water.

Optimism that summer will bring good rains has been prompted by an intensifying La Nina weather pattern and a high Southern Oscillation Index.

The weather bureau said the two events suggested that the southeast had up to a 70 per cent chance of an above-average drenching in the next three months.

Farmers in the far west, Darling Downs and Maranoa should also benefit, the bureau says. For the rest of the state, the likelihood of above-average rains is 50-50.

See - Drought-breaking rain.

Adelaide - Mawson Lakes recycled water scheme ...

Excerpt from SA Water website:

Mawson Lakes Recycled Water System

When fully developed in 2010, Mawson Lakes - a new suburb in Adelaide's north - will cater for approximately 10,000 residents. A major feature of the Mawson Lakes development is the innovative $16 million water recycling system which complements the normal mains water supply. Recycled water is water derived from sewerage systems and treated to a standard which is satisfactory for its intended use.

Eventually, recycled water will be delivered to about 4000 homes in the area and save about 800 megalitres of mains water being drawn from the River Murray each year.

The system distributes a mixture of highly treated wastewater from SA Water's Bolivar wastewater treatment plant and stormwater harvested in Salisbury that has been cleansed and treated through a series of engineered wetlands.

Residents are now using recycled water for toilet flushing, watering the garden and washing the car. The recycled water is also being used for irrigation of public parks and reserves.

Recyled water is delivered via clearly distinguishable purple coloured pipes, mains, meters and taps.

The project consists of a below ground pumping station at Bolivar, a gas chlorination station, approximately 12 km of pumping mains, a 2.6 megalitre concrete tank and a pump station at Greenfields to transfer the recycled water to the Mawson Lakes reticulation network.

The project is benefiting the environment by helping to reduce the load of stormwater and wastewater pollutants going to the local marine environment.

See - Mawson Lakes.

Toowoomba City Council: scare tactics until their dying breath ...

Another round of scare tactics from the Toowoomba City Council yesterday.

They used to try to scare the community by telling us we would run out of water unless we drank recycled water.

They don't seem to do that any more.

Now they try to scare the community about contracts.

They say that we must spend large sums of money because there's a contract and, if we don't, they'll be penalties.

Talk about a good old fashioned set-up.

This contract has been in the works for some time. It was signed in September. The Council knew the terms.

And now there's a mad rush to appoint the existing contractors without a tendering process because of such unforeseen events as Christmas, the council amalgamation and the election next year.

What a ridiculous bunch of nonsense.

All well planned by you know who.

Sign the contract with the commitment. Run out the clock so there's no time for a tender process. And then appoint you know who else to build it.

The ladies will approve it.

It smells.

But then again what doesn't down at city hall ...


Excerpt from the Chronicle (annotated):

Minister asked to rule on Wetalla tendering process

22 November 2007

The Local Government Minister will be asked to rule on whether Toowoomba City Council can bypass tendering procedures and employ existing contractors at its Wetalla treatment plant to meet the supply date to the New Acland coal mine.

Councillors yesterday discovered between $10 million and $15 million needed to be spent to upgrade the wastewater to the required Class A-plus standard.

And Director of Engineering Kevin Flanagan said, for the sceptics, the water could not be consumed by humans.

Council is committed to supply the mine with 3000 megalitres of wastewater, as the mine is paying $4 million a year over 43 years from March 1, 2009, for the water.

Failure to meet the commitment, Mr Flanagan warned, would carry unwanted penalties.

Further complications included the Christmas break, amalgamations and council elections.

Mr Flanagan secured majority council support to extend the current Wetalla Water Alliance, a joint venture with council, Barclay Mowlem Constructions (now Laing O'Rourke) and CH2M Hill Australia.

He explained council could be exempt from the Local Government Act based on timelines [because we just discovered our deadlines], the limited number of contractors available to do the job [should we ever look for any], and the alliance workers already being on site with their work contracts to run until next November [because of the stuff-ups and the need for further modifications to the work already completed].

The alliance has completed a concept design costing $70,000.

Cr Snow Manners is crying foul; CH2M [Hill], Cr Manners maintains, has a conflict of interest.

"There's no guarantee that we are getting value for money because there will be no testing of the market", he said.

Cr Sue Englart reminded him that, behind closed doors, he had been party to the unanimous support for the mine deal.

"I can't see it's proper for a $10 to $15 million contract to be rushed," he said.

[The outgoing Mayor] said she was bemused by councillors moaning about a $15 million investment that would net the city $200 million "and rising".

"I dare anyone sitting around this table that has been able to earn excessive amounts of money without putting any investment in," she said. [Certainly her post-Water Futures plans didn't work out for her.]

Her parting swipe [before running back to Tasmania] was recalling Cr Manners "signing off" on bypassing the tender process on the drilling of the bores.

"That was a real emergency," he retorted.

Local Government Minister Warren Pitt has sanctioned major council works in the lead-up to amalgamations.

"Let the Minister decide," cried a chorus of [soon to be unemployed] female councillors.

Toowoomba City Council secret water meetings ...

You'd think that the Toowoomba City Council would learn its lesson.

Most of the failed Water Futures project was cobbled together in secret closed door Council meetings.

Toowoomba residents were kept in the dark while the Council plotted to spend their money in ill-advised ways.

The public have shown their reaction to these clandestine meetings on two occasions - the 2006 referendum and the subsequent by-election.

The voters have clearly shown that they do not trust this Council and want open and transparent decision making.

And what do they get?

More of the same.

Does the Council think that continuing to hold secret meetings about spending ratepayers' money on water projects which will not bring a single drop of additional water to Toowoomba homes will go down well with the voters?

Perhaps the Council workers secretly want to get rid of the Councillors at next year's election.

Their secret plan to cleanse the Council is clearly working ...

Wetalla upgrade controversy ...

Excerpt from WIN News:

Wetalla Upgrade Controversy

21 November 2007

Controversial twist

In a controversial twist, it's been revealed Toowoomba City Council has agreed to pump water to the Acland Coal Mine two levels cleaner than it can currently provide.

Council now forced to build a fifteen million dollar extension to their Wetalla Water Treatment plant.

See - Wetalla controversy.

Federal election: K Rudd courts the Hong Kong vote ...

See - Labor advertising in Hong Kong.

With less than 8,000 potential Australian voters in Hong Kong, Labor's ad campaign in Tsim Sha Tsui (where very few expats live) is costing around $1.45 per month per voter ...

Federal election: Minister Turnbull, Australian Rain Corporation and their secret $10 million rain device ...

The Australian Rain Corporation first popped up in late October - see - 4350water blog - Turnbull and Australian Rain Corporation.

The story is still doing the rounds.

Excerpt from ABC News:

Turnbull pumps $10m into rainmaking gamble

20 November 2007

Few MPs would have worked harder to defend their seats at this election than Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, whose blue ribbon Sydney seat of Wentworth is under siege not just from Labor but a range of environmental activists, mostly coalescing around the Greens.

But in the second week of the campaign, Mr Turnbull found the time to announce that the Government, already in caretaker mode, would bankroll to the tune of $10 million the investigation of an untried Russian technology that aims to trigger rainfall from the atmosphere, even when there are no clouds.

It is a decision that raised the eyebrows of water experts around the country.

Mr Turnbull's office says there was no breach of caretaker protocol because the project was actually approved before the election was announced.

The money bankrolls research into a mysterious ionisation technology promoted by the Australian Rain Corporation.

And a commercial trial by a wastewater centre at Queensland University left independent experts like Emeritus Professor Neville Fletcher of the Australian National University a little unconvinced.

"I think the conclusion was, and I might even quote that it said: 'There is no evidence to show that the technology does not work'," Professor Fletcher told The 7.30 Report.

"Now that's a little bit negative. So I don't know. I thought that that was - inconclusive is about where I'd put it."

Rainmaker Ian Searle, the father of cloud seeding in Australia for the Tasmanian Hydro scheme, has also expressed doubts, as has Israel's internationally respected cloud physicist Professor Daniel Rosenfeld.

"There is no single scientific paper, only the patent, and one can patent anything claiming it's to do anything that he likes, as long as no one else has made the same claims before," Professor Rosenfeld said.

Mr Searle says all the literature he has seen on the technology shows it to be a bogus science.

"The one that is being touted at the moment sounds very similar to a group in the USA called the Cloudbusters, and they're supposed to ionise the atmosphere in order to make clouds out of blue skies and then to produce rain from those clouds," he said.

Electrification of the ionosphere to create clouds out of thin air. Certainly sounds a lot like the secret Australian rain device - no photographs allowed - that so excited the Minister and those who will share his six-month $10 million research funding.

All for a company the minister says is Australian-owned. Although the 7.30 Report found it is actually 75 per cent Swiss-owned.

Requests for interviews with Mr Turnbull, the head of the Australian Rain Corporation, the head of the centre contracted to test the device were declined.

So, too, the head of the National Water Commission, which insisted on a presentation of the technology for local physicists.

The Rain Corporation presented research documents written in Russian, explained by a Russian researcher who spoke to local experts in Russian.

"It's kind of difficult, because he didn't speak English or understand English, so we didn't get a lot of information there, and as I said, such written information as they had was all in Russian. So couldn't get anything out of that," Professor Fletcher said.

The physicists recommended more scientific work be done at no great expense before proceeding with any trial, which may then be worthwhile, they said.

But Mr Turnbull decided the trial should proceed and authorised a $10 million payment.

Mr Searle says he is astonished the National Water Commission allowed it to pass.

It's true that in the largely blue ribbon seat of Wentworth in Sydney's east, Mr Turnbull is struggling for re-election, though struggling might not be the right word. He does have a distinct advantage.

Murdoch's nephew

Emanating from affluent suburbs like Vaucluse, Rose Bay and Watson's Bay, Malcolm Turnbull's fundraising group the Wentworth Forum, includes a long list of generous donors including Frank Lowy, Ros Packer, John Simons, and Matt Handbury, chairman and part-owner of the so-called Australian Rain Corporation, beneficiary of the Minister's funding.

Businessman Geoffrey Cousins says he has never seen the weight of spending in any one seat that Mr Turnbull is putting out in Wentworth.

"It must be well over $1 million just in this one seat, and in Australia, that's an extraordinary amount of money. I mean, it's starting to get like the American elections," he said.

Mr Handbury is the wealthy nephew of Rupert Murdoch and chairman and proprietor of Murdoch Books, which is the headquarters for Australian Rain Corporation.

The 7.30 Report put to Malcolm Turnbull the following questions: has Matt Handbury's contribution to your fundraising Wentworth Forum helped in securing funding for the Australian Rain Corporation?

"There is absolutely no connection," he said "That is an outrageous suggestion".

Secondly, why couldn't the Matt Handbury Swiss consortium pay for its own research?

Response: "The company is contributing funding to the research and trial."

Our final question to the Minister was why should this not be seen as securing funding for one of your electorate supporters ahead of an election the Government is tipped to lose?

Mr Turnbull did not directly answer this question, suggesting perhaps his first answer had.

"The Australian Government is open to new and innovative approaches to secure water," he said.

Doubts on cloud seeding

Previously Mr Turnbull was dubious about the practice of rain enhancement by aerial seeding clouds with salt particles to help rain drops form.

In a six-year $20 million State Government trial, 20 per cent federally funded, the Snowy Hydro Scheme has been experimenting with cloud-seeding burners mounted on mountain tops.

Cloud seeding is regarded as an effective method for increasing snowfall, but Mr Turnbull's March press release raised doubts, stating:

"Cloud seeding is effective only in a limited number of weather conditions... It requires existing clouds. It will not produce rain out of thin air... An American research institute concluded there was no conclusive scientific proof that cloud seeding works."

Mr Searle disagrees.

"In Tasmania the results have been highly favourable from the beginning. We've been going since 1964," he said.

A respected world expert on cloud physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Professor Rosenfeld believes pollution particles are inhibiting rainfall over Australia's most populated areas and beyond.

More specialised cloud seeding could help, he says, if only it could win the support of Australia's Environment Minister, who the Israeli says has instead directed scarce funding from the Australian water fund to Mr Handbury's corporation.

The local representative of the Israeli cloud seeding project in Australia is Aron Gingis.

"When I brought it to the attention of Ken Matthews, chief executive officer of National Water Commission, well, if you're giving this company this kind of serious money, why couldn't we apply?" he said.

"And then he suggested clearly to me that, 'Look, it's no point applying because Australian water fund had been expended'.

"In other words, the money had been spent. So when I argue with him - not argued but suggested to him, well, if the money was spent, where did you find this $11 million?

"And he suggested to me clearly that this money was especially allocated to the National Water Commission by Minister Turnbull, a special allocation for this specific project. And to me it sounds, you know, bewildering."

He said $11 million could produce a lot of rain through cloud seeding.

"You could say that his decision wasn't influenced by the association of Matt Handbury with Wentworth Forum, I don't believe it. It's my opinion," he said.

There is a lot riding on this $10 million bet by Mr Turnbull.

If he can silence the sceptics and make it rain, even when there are no clouds on the horizon, he will be hailed as a visionary and a hero.

If it is found the sceptics are right and this technology does not work, the thunder will reverberate across the country.

"If he claims that the conventional method is unproven technology, so much more so he should be very careful with the really baseless technology," Professor Rosenfeld said.

"Frankly, I was astonished to go for something that is quite unproven, quite untried, and you could do wonderful things with that money," Mr Searle said.

See - Turnbull pumps $10m into rainmaking gamble.

Federal election: Groom candidates (updated) ...

Candidates in alphabetical order:

Candidate Name (Party)

BERRY, Rob (Independent)

See - Vote 1 Rob Berry and Say No to Drinking Recycled Sewer Water.

COLLINS, Pauline (The Greens)

See - Qld Greens website - not updated - no info on most candidates.

FINDLAY, Peter Charles (Family First)

See - Family First - Peter Findlay website.

JEANNERET, Rod (Independent)

Not known.

JONES, Irene (Citizens Electoral Council)

See - Citizens Electoral Council website.

MACFARLANE, Ian (Liberal)

See - Liberal Party website.

MEIBUSCH, Chris (Australian Labor Party)

See - Labor Party website - Meibusch doesn't seem to be one of K Rudd's main team players but you can find him here - ALP - search for your candidate.

NAJEEB, Shalina (Democrats)

See - Democrats website.

VOLKER, Grahame Arthur (Independent)

Not known.

The 2004 and 2001 results for Groom are set out below:

2004 Result

King ALP 19,516 (24.0%)
Jeanneret IND 1,929 (2.4%)
Findlay FFP 5,168 (6.3%)
Donges DEM 860 (1.1%)
Carter CEC 310 (0.4%)
Macfarlane LIB 49,131 (60.4%)
Harrison GRN 3,252 (4.0%)
Wieck TGA 1,230 (1.5%)

2-Candidate Preferred Result

King ALP 25,275 (31.1%)
Macfarlane LIB 56,121 (68.9%)

2001 Result

Kane GRN 2,774 (3.6%)
Wuersching NAT 8,563 (11.0%)
Hoy ONP 6,958 (8.9%)
Macfarlane LIB 36,573 (46.9%)
King ALP 18,467 (23.7%)
Berry IND 2,192 (2.8%)
Eyres DEM 2,521 (3.2%)

2-Candidate Preferred Result

Macfarlane LIB 50,802 (65.1%)
King ALP 27,246 (34.9%)

See - ABC News - Election results.

It's your choice ...

Brisbane's new I love BNE ambassador: Geldof: "I'm not sure what to do with it" ...

A real scoop for the Brisbane City Council.

Making Sir Bob Geldof an honorary ambassador of Brisbane so he can help spread the message about Brisbane's 'I love BNE' environmental campaign.

And his views:

Australia is one of the meanest countries on the planet and its foreign aid is "embarrassingly pathetic".

And on his ambassador role:

"It's an honorific, it's an honorary thing, I'm not literally going to go: 'and while I'm here, did you know I'm ambassador of Brisbane?'" he said. "You know, shut up."

Well done Brisbane City Council ...

Federal election: Minister Turnbull's 'hide and seek' photo ...

Count to ten ...

Photo: Peter Morris.

See - Sydney Morning Herald - Wentworth is a cliffhanger.

Irrigator wars: Wetalla dispute gains traction ...

The story first brought to you by 4350water blog.

Picked up by the media forcing the Toowoomba City Council into a joint press release with New Hope Corporation.

Refusing to lie down.

Excerpt from the Courier Mail (annotated):

Mine buys out water allocation

18 November 2007

Sixty farmers are threatening to sue Toowoomba City Council for $80 million after losing free waste water because a coalmine is prepared to pay $1300 a megalitre.

Farmers had rejected the chance to lock in supplies at $150 a megalitre in 2000.

Gowrie and Oakey Creek Irrigators Association spokesman Rod Sleba yesterday said farmers had legal advice they could sue for lost earnings based on notes taken at a meeting with council officers in the early 1970s.

Mr Sleba from Kingsthorpe, about 20km from Toowoomba, said farmers understood from the meeting they were guaranteed water.

"The council said they'd give us first opportunity. It seems like a vendetta," he said.

[The outgoing] Mayor said the farmers had no agreement and had done well for decades, getting water for nothing.

State and federal funding had been sought in 2000 for a project to pipe water to farmers at $150 a megalitre but when irrigators were approached with the deal, they fought the offer, and the council lost the grants.

Farmers also backed a campaign last year to stop the council from controversially recycling waste water back into drinking water because it would have reduced their supplies.

Council engineer Kevin Flanagan said notes from meetings in 1982, 1988 and 2001 showed irrigators had never been guaranteed the water.

Mr Sleba said farmers had spent $80 million to $100 million on irrigation infrastructure.

New Hope chairman Robert Millner said a contract had been signed to buy recycled water for the Acland coalmine for 28 years from 2010.

"New Hope will build, own and operate a 47km pipeline from Toowoomba to Acland, which will essentially drought proof the mine," Mr Millner said.

[The outgoing Mayor] said the council would make about $4 million a year from the mine, which would take 3000ML a year and have an option on a further 2500ML if available.

See - Toowoomba City Council screws irrigators.

What does the outgoing Mayor care? She's packing her bags, leaving the problem for the next guy ...

Irrigator wars: Anna Bligh's 'drought tax' ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

Water bought, but not delivered: irrigators

13 November 2007

They are often painted as voracious water consumers, but drought-hit irrigators in Queensland and northern New South Wales are now paying big bucks for access to a dwindling resource.

Many irrigators across the Murray-Darling Basin are now paying for water that is not even being delivered.

At the top end of the Basin, cotton farmers around St George in south-west Queensland say they have been charged tens of thousands of dollars for water they say does not exist.

But Queensland Premier Anna Bligh argues the charges are vital for the maintenance and management of water infrastructure.

Ms Bligh insists irrigators are merely paying the proper price for a resource she describes as "liquid gold".

For the past two-and-a-half years, the St George fields have given up nothing but dust and despair.

The unrelenting grip of drought has squeezed the south-west Queensland district of St George harder than just about any other part of the country.

For cotton growers like Scott Armstrong, it has left once productive fields to bake under cloudless skies.

"Right now, normally, would be about peak production time," he said.

"There'd be crops growing in every field around us that you see. There'd be pumps running, there'd be water flowing through the channels.

"It's just an absolute hive of activity and a hive of production and what we see now is basically just dust."

Massive bills

But if the drought is not hurting enough, Mr Armstrong and his fellow irrigators say they have been hit with massive bills for water they say they have not received.

"On our little farm in the last 18 months, I've paid over $168,000 for water that doesn't exist," he said.

But Ms Bligh says these are large businesses and they have very large commercial costs.

"So I think to a lot of people that sounds like a lot of money, but it is part of running a very large business," she said.

Mr Armstrong says his business has not run for two years because of the drought.

For a start, he is only receiving 5 per cent of his water allocation.

The problem is, he is still being hit with 95 per cent of his normal water bill.

The bills are being levied by Sun Water, a Queensland Government-owned corporation.

They are split into two parts - part A is for the management and maintenance of water infrastructure; part B is charged on the actual volume of water used.

It is the part A component that has one prominent St George local, Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce, hopping mad.

"This is theft. I mean, what else is it?" he said.

"Is there another term when someone who's in a position of power over you, extracts a payment out of you knowing full well they can't deliver?

"People, they notice the fact. They say, look, these fellows were willing to send us to jail for querying the council amalgamation decision. They've got form in being absolute bastards".

But Ms Bligh says people can remind themselves that Barnaby Joyce is a member of the Government that introduced this policy.

"This policy of charging the real cost of water was introduced by the Howard Government of which Mr Joyce is a member," she said.

"It seems to me just a little coincidental that he's suddenly got upset about this policy in the middle of a federal election campaign.

"Where was Barnaby Joyce when his Government introduced this policy?"

'Drought tax'

The Queensland Premier says the charges paid by irrigators are needed to maintain and manage infrastructure such as pipelines, channels and dams.

But in St George there is anger at what many are calling a drought tax.

"$170,000, $180,000 a month coming out of this town ... and $170,000, $180,000 a month coming out of any block in Brisbane would create an absolute riot," Senator Joyce said.

"It can't go on. Ultimately what happens is houses start to close and be sold off."

Rohan McDougall runs a tyre and automotive parts business in St George.

He says the Government's water charges are trickling down from the irrigators to his business.

"I say we're seeing a lot of people being laid off around the place," he said.

"We're seeing hundreds of vehicles driving out of town and we sell tyres and parts.

"For every 100 vehicles that's 400 tyres and 1,000 parts we're not going to sell."

Compromise rejected

Ms Bligh says St George irrigators signed up to the water pricing arrangements that are meeting with Government only last year and she maintains they rejected a compromise deal.

"There was a proposal put on the table in those negotiations that there should be reduced charges in times of drought and higher charges in times of plenty," she said.

"The irrigators resolved not to go down that path."

Fed up with paying for water they say they are not getting, irrigators around St George are banding together to fight the State Government.

Cotton grower James Thomas says he has bills for $35,000.

"In one account I've used 100 megs and I got charged $14,000 out of that one account bill," he said.

Fellow grower Glennr Rogan says most local farmers are scratching towards the limit of their credit.

"I believe that we're the only people that have got to maintain the infrastructure ... for the State, that's owned by the Government," he said.

Mr Armstrong says as a group they have decided enough's enough.

"We're going to make a stand and say, 'look, we just cannot continue'," he said.

Taking a stand

That stand is to refuse to pay their water bills.

"We've got no alternative. We have to, as a group, withhold payment of this account because it is extortion," he said.

"It is Government-sponsored extortion of the farmers in the worst drought ever recorded."

But Ms Bligh is urging irrigators to talk rather than act.

"If all of the irrigators came together and wanted to reconsider that issue, then of course, we'd look at it - we're not unreasonable people," she said.

"But of course it would have to be through an agreement with all of the irrigators and an agreement facilitated again by the Queensland Farmers Federation."

As he checks pumps that have been idle for two years, Mr Armstrong may have no choice but to default on his latest water bill.

"I've got another account, right now, for $32,000. I have no idea how to pay that," he said.

'Kick in the guts'

It has been several years since the harvesters have hauled up a decent crop around St George.

With the window for planting closing fast, few irrigators have the stomach to risk another failed crop, especially given the state of the nearby Beardmore dam.

This dam is fed from a catchment the size of Victoria and for the past 40 years it sustained the cotton industry around St George.

But for the last couple of years it has been at less than 4 per cent full, meaning no cotton crops around here at all.

"I understood we lived in a community where governments used to help you when you're down," Mr Armstrong said.

"They'd pick you up when you're doing it tough, and they'd give you a hand until you can get back on your feet, until the river fills again, until these channels and these fields start producing again.

"I understood we lived in a community where you got help from the Government through the tough times.

"We are not seeing it from the State Government, and if anything, we're seeing the worst, we're getting a kick in the guts.

"It's a kick in the guts when we're down, and that's what makes us mad."

See - Irrigators 'drought tax'.

Federal election: It's time, but not for Labor ...

Today's editorial from the Herald Sun.

An excerpt:

It's time, but not for Labor

18 November 2007

It IS time.

Not to change governments, but to resist temptation. It is time to acknowledge that the Coalition is the safe bet in a political contest in which the new, despite its superficial allure, offers less than the familiar.

It is difficult to imagine Kevin Rudd's team, despite its unhealthy trade union weighting, being cavalier with our prosperity.

But why take the chance? Why change horses when Australia is galloping strongly ahead with the lowest unemployment in a generation? Why take risks when the International Monetary Fund describes Australia's economic management as at the forefront of world's best practice?

Mr Rudd has made a case for being taken seriously, but not for unseating John Howard. Yes, he has been impressive. Labor's pitch has put the Coalition's to shame in terms of style. But an election is not a marketing campaign for consumer goods. It is a test of ideas and credentials.
...

See - Herald Sun - It's time, but not for Labor.

Federal election - ABC's Antony Green blog ...

See - Antony Green's election blog.

Worth keeping an eye on as we going into the final week of campaigning ...

Federal election: Kevin '007' - the video ...

Very well edited ...

Irrigators v. Toowoomba City Council: water wars ...

Excerpt from Toowoomba Chronicle (annotated):

$200m mine deal sparks water war

16 November 2007

Gowrie Creek irrigators will sue Toowoomba City Council for $80 million in lost earnings caused by a $200 million deal to supply treated waste water to New Acland coal mine.

Kingsthorpe farmer Rod Sleba said the 43-year agreement to supply 3000 megalitres a year to the mine further reduced the amount of promised water dumped into the creek and subsequently pumped by irrigators.

A 47-kilometre pipeline will supply the water from Wetalla to Acland.

It will put $4m into council's coffers in its first year, starting March 1, 2009.

The funds and agreement will become a substantial legacy to the new regional council, courtesy of the outgoing city council led by [the outgoing] Toowoomba mayor.

"This is an absolutely great outcome for the community and a good deal for the environment," she said.

However, the deal has reignited the war with irrigators which started when Millmerran power station offered to pay for the water they previously got for free back in 1997.

Mr Sleba said more than 60 irrigators faced certain ruin.

His family has been on the Kingsthorpe farm for 57 years.

He said he remembered and there were notations in minutes from annual meetings over many years where council guaranteed waste water discharges of up to 21 megalitres a day into the creek. On that basis, he said, farmers spent millions of dollars growing their farms and developing infrastructure.

Now they want compensation.

Angry Kingsthorpe farmer Geoff Arundel accused Toowoomba council of being "closet environmental vandals" and claiming there was nothing environmentally friendly about killing off a river ecosystem.

"Irrigation of the Oakey valley will die because there will be no flow in Oakey Creek to recharge the aquifers. The bores will dry up. Oakey's $6m bore fields will be gone - you don't need a degree in hydrology - just look to the Lockyer Valley.

"Councillors cry over trees being lost in the city - there's trees along the 45km long riverine (system) that won't survive."

Both the irrigators and council claim to have legal advice supporting their stands.

[The outgoing Mayor] said: "At the end of the day it all comes down to what was on their licences and, that said, the water always remained the property of Toowoomba City Council - and it was by the good graces that they received that water."

"They were always made aware it was only opportunistic water - their businesses have been predicated on a product that had no long-term security."

"Time has moved on and water has become a precious commodity. I don't believe the irrigators would be able to pay the money that the mine is paying," [the outgoing Mayor] said.

"At the end of the day, I have an absolute obligation to this community for a resource that basically has been manufactured by them."

"There will still be some water going down the creek," she said.

A New Acland spokesman said the agreement would not "interfere with the natural flows of the creek at all."

Director of Engineering Kevin Flanagan said that during drought, the city consumed 25 megalitres a day with 20 megalitres returning to the Wetalla Water Reclamation plant. The plant has the capacity to treat 30 megalitres a day.

Council, he said, was committed to the sale of 1000 megalitres to Millmerran power station and now 3000 megalitres to Acland.

Millmerran power station, in an agreement across 28 years with three options of a further five years, has first right of refusal for another 2500 megalitres a year.

See - Irrigators v. Toowoomba City Council - water wars.

Federal election - Jay Leno's take on K Rudd ...

Wetalla - details of Toowoomba City Council's deal with Acland Coal dribble out ...

Things the Toowoomba City Council doesn't want to tell you.

They're too secret.

A maximum 43 year contract with an alleged in-built promise that one day the Council will go ahead with their ill-fated recycled water plant.

Oops, it's public now.

Excerpt from New Hope Corporation AGM Chairman's address:

15 November 2007

Today it gives me great pleasure to announce that New Hope has successfully concluded negotiations with Toowoomba City Council regarding a waste water supply to the New Acland Mine. The agreement will provide water to the mine from 2009 for a period of 28 years, which can be extended by 3, five year options.

The contract anticipates that Toowoomba will eventually provide a water recycling facility, in which case Acland would take the high salt waste stream from such a plant.

This project essentially "drought proofs" the mine and underpins potential growth projects over the coming years.

New Hope will build, own and operate a 47 kilometre pipeline from the Toowoomba facility at Wetalla to the New Acland Mine.

See - New Hope Corporation - AGM address.

With the Toowoomba Regional Council election approaching, this deal will annoy many people.

The downstream irrigators will not be amused with the Council.

Nor will 32,330 people who voted NO - they won't be happy with the Toowoomba City Council indicating they still want to build a stand-alone recycled water plant.

Seems the wishes of big business might be trying to over-rule the views of the people - 'let them drink recycled water so we can use the waste product in our mine'. Pity a recycled water plant wouldn't 'drought-proof' Toowoomba.

You can bet that none of the directors of New Hope Corporation are planning to move to Toowoomba.

Sensible to want to build, own and operate the pipeline though. After the Wetalla bore fiasco, no-one would really want the Toowoomba City Council managing a picnic, let alone a pipeline.

One thing for sure - the 2008 Toowoomba Regional Election is going to be keenly fought with the distinct possibility of the current sitting Yes Councillors looking for new jobs shortly thereafter ...

San Diego - recycled water project vetoed ...

Excerpt from KPBS News:

Sanders Vetoes Recycled Water Project

14 November 2007

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders on Wednesday vetoed a recent City Council action authorizing a pilot program to use recycled wastewater. The council voted for the plan to supplement San Diego's drinking water supply.

Sanders says the project, often-called toilet-to-tap, is too expensive.

Sanders: The water enterprise fund simply does not have the money to pay for a pilot project or the public outreach campaign the council is requesting.

Sanders says the project would cost between $10 and $15 million and would take years to develop. He says conservation and desalination are better ways to increase the city's water supply.

Sanders: Toilet to tap is not a silver bullet for our water supply needs. It is a costly process that does not hold promise for substantial amounts of usable water.

The city already uses treated water for activities such as landscaping. The City Council voted 5-2 last month to initiate a one-year reclaimed water demonstration project by next July.

The council needs five votes to override the mayor's veto. If that happens, Sanders says he'll submit to the council a notice that would require it to increase water rates to pay for the pilot project.

See - Recycled water project vetoed.

Federal election - Greens back recycling water ...

... from the shower to the washing machine and toilet.

See - Green's candidate takes the bus to Toowoomba.

Weird world: Taipei's toilet restaurant ...

See - It's all about the toilet!

Is this how the cafe at the ill-fated Visitor's Centre would have looked ...

Outgoing Mayor - property update ...

One unit sold - SOLD.

One unit to go - FOR SALE.

QWC's Nosworthy - plenty on her plate ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

13 November 2007

Busy Lizzie

Donald McGauchie isn't the only telecom chairman with a bit on his plate at the moment.

The Donald has kept himself busy winning friends raising interest rates on the Reserve Bank board, defying Telstra shareholders by giving Sol Trujillo a tidy pay rise and fending off a takeover at Nufarm.

Lower down the food chain at Commander Communications, chairwoman Elizabeth Nosworthy has a pretty full diary, too.

Nosworthy has been studiously watching as Commander implodes and is hoping someone, anyone, will buy a slice of the crumbling empire.

But she's also juggling her role as chairwoman of the Queensland Water Commission. And with Queensland's 2.3 million residents already on level-six water restrictions, Nosworthy's mob have this week implemented tough water restrictions on business.

What's more, anyone wanting to fill a pool will have to truck in water from outside the district.

We doubt she'll be throwing a pool party for Commander soon.

Still, when she's not doing a rain dance or trying to sell bits of Commander, she squeezes in time for Babcock & Brown board meetings.

See - Busy Lizzy.

Federal election: Anna Bligh jokes at Labor launch ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

14 November 2007

Ms Bligh said the Queensland government had shown during the past nine years that a Labor government can deliver.

"So if you want to see a well-managed national economy, put a Queenslander in charge of it," she said.

See - Bligh cracks a funny.

Federal election: Flannery support for Rob Berry's campaign ...

He'd probably deny it but Flannery's comments in Toowoomba yesterday are an inadvertent endorsement of Rob Berry's campaign for the Federal seat of Groom.

Rob Berry is the independent candidate running on the sole issue of not forcing people to drink recycled water.

Tim Flannery is currently in high gear touring Australia spreading his climate change message and pushing his latest book. (Is there a link between carbon emissions from Flannery's jet-setting lifestyle and book sales?)

He ended up in Toowoomba yesterday to chat to the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

A number of Councillors couldn't wait for the event - a chance to tell Flannery that they too are true believers. The outgoing Mayor even dragged herself away from her busy schedule of becoming a Tasmanian citizen to attend.

Flannery told an 11 year old attendee (who for some reason was not in school) that it was never too young to start being concerned about the environment. Young Hamish promised to turn the lights off at home to reduce coal burning. If only he could convince all the 11 year olds in China and India to do the same.

Flannery declared that water was the main issue for Toowoomba to address (nothing startling there!). He said that, with the federal election looming (it's actually here now - maybe it was an old speech), people needed to start confronting local politicians with the water issue.

"This is the one vital chance for people to take action and make a stance," he said.

See - Water city's main issue.

Rob Berry is the only candidate in the seat of Groom who thinks the same as Flannery - his sole platform is about safe drinking water for the people of Toowoomba and Groom.

He is asking Groom voters to 'take action and make a stance' and send a protest vote to Canberra.

Some may say Flannery and Berry make odd bedfellows but they are arguing the same point ...

Federal election: Labor gaffe allows Turnbull to lock up Wentworth ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Legal blow to Labor bid for key seat

14 November 2007

A cloud hangs over the crucial seat of Wentworth in the federal election, with evidence suggesting the nomination of one of Labor's star candidates may be invalid.

Last night George Newhouse was fighting off claims that a legal oversight could scupper his chances of taking the knife-edge marginal seat, even if he beats the Liberal incumbent and Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, on November 24.

Mr Newhouse would face the prospect of a byelection if a challenger could establish he failed to resign from his position as a paid member of the state's consumer disputes tribunal before lodging his nomination for Wentworth.

The state Minister for Fair Trading, Linda Burney, told the Herald she did not receive Mr Newhouse's resignation until November 2, the day the Electoral Commission announced the nominations. Under the Constitution, a candidate seeking election to Parliament must resign from any office of profit under the Crown at least 24 hours before the Electoral Commission formally declares the nomination.

Mr Newhouse insists he resigned on October 22, but the Herald has learnt the letter sent to Ms Burney was undated. Neither Mr Newhouse nor his campaign staff will say when he sent the letter. And Ms Burney's office has refused to release the letter.

But one of her senior staff confirmed it was undated, and that there was only a reference in the letter to the date of October 22, signalling an intention to resign.

Adding to the confusion, the Commissioner for Fair Trading, Lyn Baker, told the Herald "something flashed past" her desk indicating Mr Newhouse's resignation only last Friday, November 9.
...

See - Labor in a spin in Wentworth.

If this is true, Minister Turnbull will not be able to believe his luck ...

Also read the email exchange between the Labor candidate and the News Limited journo:

Overington 11.08am "Hey there … Let's chat today, shall we? I could come out to Bondi, since I live there. And now you are single, I might even make a pass at you."
...

Overington, 11.35am "Either you say yes to a photograph smiling and happy and out campaigning, or we stake you out at [street name and number deleted] and get you looking like a cat caught in a trap, in your PJs. Your choice."

See - Emails explore reporter's own preferences, then turn nasty.

Federal election: Rudd's school attendance makes mockery of Anna's 'no school visits' rule ...

See - Rudd visits Nambour State High School.

Wasn't it only a couple of weeks ago that Anna Bligh banned Federal politicians from campaigning in State schools during this election.

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

23 October 2007

Extraordinary rules have been invoked by the State Government to prevent the federal election being played out in Queensland schools.

Principals have been forbidden from inviting federal MPs on to school property for any reason, while a ban has been placed on uttering candidate names in speeches.

The lengthy list of rules was sent to all schools late last week by Education Minister Rod Welford's office in anticipation of his federal counterpart Julie Bishop arriving this week for a series of announcements.

While federal MPs and ministers will be allowed access to schools, they must personally seek approval either from Mr Welford's office or through Education Queensland.

The move is likely to stymie federal Coalition education announcements in Queensland as strategists will be reluctant to expose their whereabouts to the state Labor Government.

"As this is the busiest time of the year for schools, the Minister wants minimal disruptions to students and teachers, and for schools to continue with business as usual," Mr Welford's policy adviser, Michael Knowles, wrote in the edict.

The rules state:

• Schools are not to invite federal MPs to their schools for any reason.

• Federal election candidates are not to enter schools to address students, nor are they to be recognised in speeches.

• Neither state nor federal MPs may send a federal election candidate to represent them at a school function.

• There is to be no electioneering/campaigning etc in school grounds at any time.

See - Pollies banned from schools.

Guess Kevin winked at Rod and Rod winked at Kevin.

One rule for some ...

Coal seam gas water to drought-proof Dalby ...

Excerpt from Mining Chronicle:

Coal seam gas water to drought-proof Dalby

February, 2007

Water from Arrow Energy NL's coal seam gas projects will help droughtproof the dry South East Queensland agricultural community of Dalby under a deal inked with Dalby Town Council.

Arrow chief executive Nick Davies said the coal seam gas producer was contributing $1.3 million towards the Dalby water supply redevelopment project, under which CSG water from Arrow's nearby Tipton West gas fields will be piped to Dalby's water treatment plant. This funding is in addition to contributions of $3.3 million each from the federal and state governments and additional funding from Dalby Council.

"The worst-in-a-century drought in one of Australia's major agricultural centres has led to a dire need for reliable base water supplies."

"Rather than allowing the water generated as a by-product of the CSG extraction process to simply evaporate in our dams, we have agreed to freely supply it to Dalby Council for the benefit of the local community," Mr Davies said.

In a landmark agreement hailed by Dalby Mayor Warwick Geisel as "a first for town supply in Australia", Dalby residents may be drinking treated CSG water as early as 2008.

"This water is expected to be available for over 15 years, meaning the upper aquifer will be preserved instead of being further depleted," Mr Davies said.

"This will make a significant contribution towards protecting biodiversity and the sustainability of both the community and environment."

The required infrastructure includes a 23km pipeline from the Tipton West fields to the water treatment plant, along with the construction of a second desalination plant. Full operation of a reverse osmosis plant capable of treating up four million litres a day of CSG water is planned for early-2008.

"This agreement brought together federal, state and local government with the business community and landholders to secure a mutually beneficial outcome," Mr Davies said.

Federal member for Maranoa, Bruce Scott, said the innovative project would provide a major economic boost to the region.

"The availability of water underpins regional development for the area and will encourage new industries and new jobs," he said.

"I congratulate the Dalby town council and Arrow Energy for working together to develop this highly innovative project and I look forward to the future achievements from this smart water initiative."

Arrow is already supplying CSG water to a local cattle feedlot, in addition to Peabody Surat Pty Ltd's Wilkie Creek mine for use in its coal washing process. Arrow is also working with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries in a trial scheme to grow saltwater fish such as barramundi and Murray cod in CSG water.

"This agreement is yet another example of Arrow's commitment to being a community-minded and environmentally responsible energy producer," Mr Davies said.

See - Arrow Energy - Coal seam gas water to drought-proof Dalby.

ACT furious at sewage leak warning delay ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Stanhope furious at lake warning failure

13 November 2007

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope says he's furious it took authorities in NSW five days to notify territory residents that a sewage leak across the border had contaminated Lake Burley Griffin.

The lake has been closed indefinitely after 1.5 million litres of raw sewage last week leaked from Queanbeyan, just across the NSW border, into the Molonglo River.

Mr Stanhope said Canberra residents who used the lake for swimming and boating may have been placed at risk because of the delay in issuing a health warning.
...

See - Sewage leak delay.

Miss Earth 2007 winner photos ...

The winners of Miss Earth 2007 have been chosen:

- Miss Earth - Air

- Miss Earth - Fire

- Miss Earth - (Recycled) Water

and, of course, Miss Earth 2007

See - Miss Earth winners.

Also see - Climate Change gets sexy - Miss Earth Australia 2007.

Federal election - Garrett likes to repeat himself ..

San Diego - experts call misconnected recycled water 'safe' ...

... but local authority is already paying out compensation.

Excerpt from the Union Tribune:

Two experts call water at business center safe

9 November 2007

Chula Vista – Two experts hired by the Otay Water District have concluded that treated sewage water that flowed to an Eastlake business center for two years was not a health risk to the employees there.

The district released letters from water-quality and infectious-disease experts as it begins processing legal claims filed by many of the 17 stores at the Fenton Business Center.

“It is extremely unlikely that any of the tenants that consumed normal amounts of this water, or washed, bathed or brushed teeth, would have any long-term ill effects,” wrote Gonzalo R. Ballon-Landa, a San Diego physician who specializes in infectious diseases.

On Aug. 17, district officials discovered that a recycled-water line for the center had mistakenly been hooked to a meter for drinking water. The center had been getting recycled water, or treated sewage, since it opened two years before. The problem worsened last spring, when Otay began pumping 100 percent recycled water through the pipes instead of a 4-to-1 mix it had been using.

The problem was corrected, but two food-related businesses that said they were hurt by the bad publicity have since announced closures. Dream Dinners, a meal-preparation service, closed Oct. 26, and the Candy Bouquet, a gift store, is closing Nov. 21.

Amy Wise, co-owner of the Candy Bouquet, scoffed at the experts' reports.

“We've all been sick,” she said. “They can say all they want to; there's no way anyone can tell me recycled sewer water is as safe as drinking water.”

The water district hired Malcolm Pirnie, an environmental consulting firm, to analyze test results of water from the recycled pipeline leading to the Fenton Business Center. The firm concluded that the water generally met state and federal drinking water standards.

“Nothing in these water quality results is of any concern to drinking water safety from a water quality perspective,” Vice President Michael McGuire said in his letter to the district.

The Otay Water District has received 78 claims from employees and customers of 11 businesses at the center, said General Manager Mark Watton. He said the district hopes to settle a majority of the claims seeking compensation before lawsuits are filed.

“If they're reasonable and straightforward claims, we want to treat it in a fair and expeditious manner,” Watton said.

At its meeting this week, the Otay board approved a claim of almost $11,000 to compensate customers of Dream Dinners, and another claim of $7,500 from a dance studio at the center.

See - Was the recycled water safe to drink?

If the water is perfectly safe to drink, why is the local authority paying out compensation ...

Federal election - McKew fails to connect with older voters ...

Vimiera Village, Eastwood.

See - Maxine cancelled - lack of interest.

Must have seen enough of her on the ABC ...

SEQ - level 6 water restrictions commence ...

... even though Anna says they don't exist.

Excerpt from News.com.au:

Level six restrictions for SE Queensland

12 November 2007

Level six water restrictions will be imposed across Queensland's southeast from November 23.

Water commissioner Elizabeth Nosworthy warned that if water consumption climbed above the target of 140 litres per person per day, bucket-watering of gardens may have to end.

Pool owners will be banned from using town water to fill their pools and households using more than 800 litres a day without legitimate reason face penalties.
...

Other exemptions include special health reasons, home businesses with a legitimate reason for requiring water, building or renovation development and change of ownership or tenancy.

See - SEQ goes level 6.

Remember Anna Bligh's comments from earlier this year:

"I confirm that there is not only no such thing as Level 8, but also there is no such thing as Level 7 or Level 6," Ms Bligh told Parliament.

See - Anna says Level 6 doesn't exist.

Brisbane's I love BNE campaign annoys New York lawyers ...

Things seems to be going from bad to worse for the Brisbane City Council and its attempts to use New York's famous tagline for its environmental campaign.

Excerpt from the Sunday Mail:

Big Apple's court threat

11 November 2007

New York has taken the first step towards dragging Brisbane City Council through the courts for ripping off its "I love NY" logo.

The Big Apple's lawyers will send Brisbane a strongly worded letter as the row over the iconic trademark heads towards a costly legal battle, with ratepayers to pick up the bill.

Despite warnings not to use New York's world famous trademark, the Brisbane City Council plans to use a green "I love BNE" logo to promote its $670,000 Greenheart CitySmart environmental campaign.

The city argues the logo is being used to inspire those in Brisbane to go green, and not as a tourism promotion. The six-month campaign will see the logo plastered on council buses, ferries, T-shirts, stickers, mouse pads and coffee cups.

But New York argues it is irrelevant how Brisbane uses the logo because it is a clear breach of its trademark.

Thomas Ranese, the chief marketing officer for New York's Empire State Development Corporation, said lawyers this week had advised New York to take the first steps of a legal battle.

"We still think this is a very serious matter and we plan on issuing a letter to cease and desist, the standard letter we would send to anyone who violates our trademark and is using our logo against our wishes or without our permission," he said.

See - Big Apple's court threat.

Qld government's $6.6m water advisory feeding frenzy ...

Excerpt from the Sunday Mail:

Water advice costs $6.6m

11 November 2007

As the southeast prepares for Level 6 water restrictions, the Queensland Water Commission has already hit level 6.6.

That is $6.6 million spent in the past year on consultants and contractors.

The commission, established in June last year, made a big splash in seeking outside help.

But the annual report released last week has few details of actual spending on consultancies, other than: "regional policy and planning, water reform, corporate policy and governance, demand efficiency and substitution, and communications".

Only Health and Main Roads spend that sort of money each year on consultants, although the State Government as a whole has spent more than $100 million in the past three years.

The commission and the Department of Natural Resources and Water combined spent over $9 million on consultants in the financial year.

The Coalition called for more disclosure from the State Government as there were few explanations in the report about what the water consultants did for the money.

Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney said nine years of neglect of water infrastructure had sent the Government in to a "political panic trying to deliver a raft of projects as quickly as possible".

He said the Coalition wanted freedom of information laws amended to require details to be published on the internet when consultancies or contracts involved $150,000 or more.

DNR and Water's consultancy bill was $223,853 in 2006-07, $74,259 in 2005-06 and $6990 in 2004-05, compared to this year's $5.4 million spend, according to Mr Seeney.

"The Government employs more than 520 spin doctors at a cost of more than $40 million a year, yet the Water Department communications' consultants spending increased three-fold," Mr Seeney said.

"The Government needs to shift its focus away from spin and on to building new water infrastructure to get southeast Queensland out of the crisis."

In addition to $6.6 million on consultants and contractors, the water commission spent $5.3 million on advertising and $3.7 million on wages, salary and employee expenses.

The annual report says the commission relied on both staff and specialist contractors and consultants "in a range of projects".

"Major tasks performed by consultants included assisting with planning and policy matters and helping to develop the South East Queensland Water Strategy," the report says.

Commission staff also travelled to the US in 2006-07, at a cost of $15,526, to inspect water recycling facilities.

See - Anna's $6.6m for consultants.

Sydney's desal plant goes to $2 billion ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

In the pipeline: a $2b desalination bill

12 November 2007

The cost of the controversial Kurnell desalination plant is likely to top $2 billion as costs are again forced higher by changes to construction of the massive pipeline at the heart of the project.

The latest estimates have pushed the price of the pipeline, needed to pipe water from the plant to the city's water main, to more than $750 million - nearly $200 million more than the original price of $570 million indicated in May when the State Government finalised details of the pipeline route and construction consortium.

See - Sydney's $2b desalination plant.

China - on track to be world's largest polluter ...

Excerpt from BBC News:

China 'to be largest energy user'

7 November 2007

China is set to become the world's largest consumer of energy by about 2010, according to a study by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The World Energy Outlook report predicts that China will overtake the US in its energy use.

Demand for energy in China is expected to have doubled within 20 years, according to the report.

But this will come at a price, with China also on course to become the world's largest polluter, says the IEA.

China's rapid economic growth has created an increasing demand for natural resources.

It is already looking to Africa, the Middle East and other countries in Asia to satisfy its demand for the fossil fuels.

Economic priority

But the burning of fossil fuels is already having an impact on China's environment, causing widespread pollution.

The IEA report says China's increasing consumption will also make it the world's largest emitter of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

The Chinese authorities have repeatedly refused to act on climate change, saying that the economy must take priority.

They also argue that it is pointless for the West to criticise China for its energy consumption when so much of China's industry produces goods for Western markets.

See - China to be world's largest polluter.