Page 4656 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
storage capacity in the ACT and a healthy catchment that gives us high quality drinking water. As I am sure other members have, I have had the chance to be up in Namadgi National Park with some of the park rangers, particularly Brett McNamara. He has a great enthusiasm for telling the story of Canberra’s water supply and how the catchment was designed to ensure that this city has a reliable and high quality water supply. He talks about how this side of the ranges really benefits from that.
It is also a reminder of the need to make sure we deal with feral species in our water supply. I have been up there with the National Parks Association discussing issues of feral horses in Namadgi National Park. They have real potential for detrimental impact on our water supply. The increasing arrival of deer into the territory is an emerging challenge when it comes to protecting that wonderful legacy we have of the way the ACT was designed to give us a secure, quality water supply.
We also have a dry climate with an average annual rainfall of around 600 millimetres. All the forecasts are that our region will become hotter and our rainfall more variable as a result of climate change. Generally it is predicted that our environment will become even drier than it currently is. Modelling has identified that our region will experience a more frequent and prolonged drought, longer and more frequent heatwaves with higher daytime and night-time maximum temperatures and more frequent and severe bushfires.
These impacts mean we will need to carefully consider how we use our water, particularly in the context of a hotter urban environment that will need cooling through irrigated green spaces, shade and water bodies and the impact the greater threat of bushfire will have on our catchment areas. Most members will recall the thought process that went into what happened after 2003 and the impact it had on our various water catchments both in terms of potential contamination of water supply as well as issues of inflow as the vegetation in those areas regrew and went through a phase of sucking up considerable amounts of water.
The motion acknowledges that climate change has already placed significant pressure on water availability in the ACT. Climate change impacts will continue to affect water security, and we need to ensure our long-term water planning and decisions about when to implement water restrictions reflect the climate of our future.
In addition to more variable rainfall, the higher summer temperatures will increase evaporation rates and result in higher water demand, exacerbating the impact on water security. As we face these challenges we will need to find innovative ways of using our water more effectively to create the best outcomes for our community. We can have the biggest dam in the world but it will not help us if it does not rain, and they are the scenarios we need to contemplate under future climate modelling. We need to be smart about how we use our water to avoid getting caught out as our climate changes.
Canberrans have shown they are willing to reduce their water use when it matters. During the millennium drought the community responded to the education campaign and the water restrictions that were in place. Canberra’s per capita water used dipped and has actually remained relatively lower since. We are still at a level per capita
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video