permaculture

[Gilbert Grace <igogo@bigpond.com>]

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 16:01:02 +1000
From: Fiona Campbell <pacedge@magna.com.au>
Subject: [permaculture] Rainwater harvesting and consumption ok'd in
Sydney
To: Intl permaculture list <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <270A45C2-E80B-11D7-82ED-003065D6F66A@magna.com.au">270A45C2-E80B-11D7-82ED-003065D6F66A@magna.com.au>
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"...I do not know if I would be prepared to drink rainwater falling on
Sydney roofs, however. A look at airflow map for the Sydney region
indicates that polluted air is pushed out to sea, depending on winds,
and can then return and settle south-west of the metropolitan area.
That puts it over the Campbelltown-Camden region, where the inhabitants
get to sample three-day old city air. Whether this air is so polluted
that it could contaminate rainwater, even to a small amount, is
unknown. Clearly, what we need is the testing of rainwater in different
regions of Sydney over the different months.Perhaps one of those
first-flush diverters that channel the first rainwater wash over the
roof into the stormwater drain would be a good idea.

Maybe we will slowly see the traditional Australian rainwater tank
become a feature of houses new and old. As for the city's increasing
number of apartment and townhouse residents, there is no technological
reason why new housing stock of this type should not provide rainwater
harvesting and storage. The precedent is the Stringybark Grove town
house development in Lane Cove, where a 22,000 litre underground
rainwater tank occupies the space below the carpark. Water  is pumped
to the dwellings where it is used for non-culinary purposes such as
toilet flushing...

 

The introduction of water restrictions will probably gladden the heart
of urban-dystopians who see our cities as unsustainable presences on
the landscape. But a contrary viewpoint suggests that governments are
waking up to the fact that cities can be resource-conserving entities
and can harness, harvest and store some of their own resource needs.
While far from utopias, the cities can exemplify the common sense
notion that the utilisation of what nature offers, whether rainfall or
sunlight, should be harvested and put to use, leaving some aside for
nature's own needs...

...Russ Grayson, Sydney, Australia; 16.9.03"

 

The <Michael Mobbs> house in Chippendale is an example of stand alone utilities systems retrofitted to a Victorian terrace in the heart of Sydney. He did extensive research into the functions in consultation with experts in the field, as featured on his web site and his book. His house is situated in the first residential belt adjacent to the Sydney NSW CBD which is about as close as residential housing gets to the centre of vehicle pollution. Apparently the house was openned officially by the then and now Premier of NSW.

 

The Mobb family's project is featured on many web sites and he has his own consultancy as well as running tours of his house. 

 

Further to the collection of water, I listened with interest to a panel discussion recently broadcast on Sydney radio during which one of the bureaucrats working for or with Sydney water was advocating the installation of a second pipe to run parrallel with the sewage to collect grey water for recycling. I think the idea could be taken one step further and harvest potable water from the roofs of sydney buildings thereby relieving the stress on the catchments surrounding sydney. The first flush could be diverted to the grey water and so on.

 

Open water reservoirs, or reservoirs with retractable roofs, could be situated on hilltops around the Sydney region there by making it easier for helicopters to access water during fire fighting during the oncoming warmer, drier, climate. 

 

Room for speculation although the idea has probably been a pet project for some mailroom clerk in the bowels of Sydney water for years previously, and has probably been the reason for him/her being consigned to dead end jobs... Just think Tasmanian Hydro as an example of enlightened civic planning and extrapolate forwards.

 

Not so long ago, about 1989 to be exact, some friends and I were sitting around a kitchen table with someone who was convinced they could get the NSW government to introduce a light rail/tram on the old disused rail line that extended to the inner west from Central Station.   

 

Gilbert