Japan may export recycled water to Queensland ...
Excerpt from Sunshine Coast Daily:
Japan may export water to Queensland
7 August 2008
A Japanese company is looking into plans to export water to Australia in large ships for agriculture and industrial use, it has been reported.
Nomura Research Institute is exploring the idea and proposes delivering the water on ships that carry Australian coal to Japan's second-largest steelmaker, JFE Holdings, which has a mill in Kawasaki, near Tokyo.
US news agency Bloomberg reported that representatives from Nomura were to come Queensland next month to discuss the plan, as the state looked for ways to boost water supplies.
It said water shipped to Australia would be purified water recycled in Kawasaki after industrial use.
The report said bulk shipments could start in three to five years, and an announcement was expected on August 20.
But a spokesman for Queensland's Minister for Water Craig Wallace said there was no planned deal to import water from Japan.
Japan is the second most water-affluent country behind Canada in the developed world, and is in the process of expanding water exports to take advantage of the growing demand as a result of climate change.
See - Japanese recyled water bound for Qld.
It would be sheer lunacy to import recycled water from Japan and let the vast quantities of coal seam gas water evaporate ...
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 8:41 AM
3 Comments:
Bloomberg.com Japan:
Nomura to Study Sending Water to Australia in Ships
By Yoshifumi Takemoto
Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- A Nomura Holdings Inc. unit plans to study exporting water to Australia from Japan for agriculture and industrial use as the nation recovers from its worst drought on record, two people familiar with the proposal said.
Nomura Research Institute Ltd. proposes organizing the delivery of water on ships that carry Australian coal to JFE Holdings Inc., which has a mill in Kawasaki next to Tokyo, said the people, who didn't want to be identified before an announcement on Aug. 20. JFE is Japan's second-largest steelmaker.
An agreement by Nomura Research, the Queensland state government and the city of Kawasaki to study the shipments may help boost water supplies in Australia, the driest inhabited continent. Japan is the second most water-affluent nation after Canada among developed countries.
Bulk shipments of water to Australia may start in three to five years, said the people. A deal would also promote technologies used by Kawasaki companies to reduce leakage from the Queensland water system, they said.
Nomura Research Institute spokeswoman Yuko Kaito said she couldn't comment on the plan. An official at JFE's steel unit, who declined to be identified, said the public relations department hadn't heard of the project.
There was "no planned deal to import water from Japan," said Paul Lynch, spokesman for Queensland's Minister for Water Craig Wallace.
"Representatives from Nomura Research Institute are understood to be coming to Queensland next month to discuss possible collaborative water research," Lynch said.
Tokyo-based Nomura Research, about a third held by Nomura Holdings group companies, rose 2.9 percent to 2,320 yen on the city's stock exchange. JFE gained 4.6 percent, the most in three weeks, to 4,590 yen.
Water Business
Nomura Research, which advised Veolia Environnement SA on its Japan expansion, is moving to increase its water business as climate change, population shifts and rising agricultural demand provide opportunities.
The company is Japan's largest information technology service provider by market capitalization and acts as a consultant for companies and government organizations, including Japan's local municipalities.
The global water industry, which includes waste treatment, valves, pumps, filtration and desalination equipment, is worth about $400 billion, according to Francesca McCann, an analyst at Stanford Group Co., a Washington-based research company.
Demand for water in Kawasaki, once one of Japan's most industrialized cities, is shrinking as factories shift to China and other Asian countries to remain competitive. Water shipped to Australia would be purified water recycled in the city after industrial use.
Ship Ballast
The plan to send purified water to Australia is also driven by tightening controls over the discharge of seawater used to balance empty ships. The UN's International Maritime Organization is moving to toughen regulations over ballast.
Hiroshi Kawai, professor of marine environmental issues at Kobe University, said growing world trade may damage the maritime environment unless measures are taken.
Australia's rainfall is the lowest of all the world's continents, excluding Antarctica, according to the Web site of Melbourne Water, a water management authority owned by the Victorian government.
The nation will spend A$12.9 billion ($11.8 billion) over the next 10 years to improve the way water is used and to ensure long-term Australian supply in the face of a changing global climate, minister for climate change and water, Penny Wong said in April.
The spending includes A$5.8 billion to enhance the efficiency and productivity of water use, A$3 billion to buy back water to be returned to rivers and A$1 billion for an urban water and desalination program, Wong said.
To contact the reporter for this story: Yoshifumi Takemoto in Tokyo at ytakemoto@bloomberg.net
10:21 AM, August 07, 2008
Sounds like the Japanese have let the cat out of the bag.
10:25 AM, August 07, 2008
We have the lowest rainfall of all continents yet the immigration program is going ahead at full speed. One speaker on TV said that Australia could support a further 11 million people. Sheer bureaucratic madness!
5:25 PM, August 08, 2008
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