Australia's "Big Dry"

Most people will be aware that Australia is prone to Wets and Drys i.e. a cycle of rain and droughts, that usually balances out over a long enough period.

Always something of a joke, Australians have often played on the 'parched' thirst jokes e.g.

Its so dry in Australia that .....

If the England cricket team wasn't touring we'd never see ducks.

The Red Cross has launched a wet blanket appeal.

We're actually drinking the new Vanilla Coke

You're only permitted to eat watermelon between 8pm and 8am.

The Government has introduced a water pistol buyback scheme.

Thieves are siphoning off radiators instead of petrol tanks.

I'm encouraging the kids to wee in the pool.

Jesus has turned the wine into water

We are having to hand feed the rocking horse.

Everyone is now an expert - because you can't find anyone who is wet behind the ears.

All the bottom of the harbour tax schemes are re-surfacing.

I saw two trees fighting over a dog.

All the Baptists have become Anglicans.

When my daughter fainted it took three buckets of sand to bring her around.

All the dogs are marking their territory with chalk.

Some of the 4 wheel drives in Toorak have actually got dust on them.

and many books have parodied the lack of rainfall e.g The Lost Continent by Terry Pratchett.

However for the last decade, Australia has been living through the "Big Dry" - the most severe drought in a century. This has reached the point where the very ecosystem is in danger of collapse across large areas of Australia and is having far reaching social consequences.

Maybe the most surprising, is that despite their reputation for water shortages, Australia has so far refused to recycle water for drinking i.e. they only use recycled water for agriculture, and not for drinking.

Well guess what, they are going to have to use water properly, like the rest of the world - drinking water shortages are the biggest threat to humanity and for one continent to act as though it isn't affected, is plainly daft.

Recycled effluent water is not straight from the sewers, and then back into the drinking supply .... its a process like this...

1. Waste water is pumped into a clarifier
2. After passing through filters it is then disinfected with UV light
3. The water is then pumped into rivers or lakes, to be taken back into the water supply later as part of the natural cycle.

Aussies, remember that your river water has

• Dead fish,
• Dead animals
• Animal and fish faeces,
• Industrial waste, and
• Pesticides

in it, before you treat it and drink it ..... how can human waste make that worse?