Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
rainwater tanks may go some way to solving issues of water supply in rural
areas and developing countries.
Demand management
Existing literature suggests that demand management should be the first
response to drought, climate change, and a growing population: it is the
least costly solution, saves energy and reduces emissions (Marsden Jacobs
2007a; Turner
et al
. 2007). In the case of SEQ, restrictions were introduced
and adopted quickly by residents with little controversy. Even two months
after restrictions were lifted from 140 to 170 litres per person per day,
residential consumption remained low at 129 litres per person per day in
September 2008, with reported use a year later at 164 litres per person per
day, well under the then restrictions of 200 litres per person per day (QWC
2009b). It was estimated that a lower level of supply could delay the need for
costly supply augmentations, such as a desalination plant, by five years from
2017 to 2024. This lower use compares more favourably with, for example,
average European water consumption of less than 150 litres per person per
day (UNEP 2005).
In addition, water-intensive businesses were required to prepare Water
Efficiency Management Plans to demonstrate they use water efficiently or to
show how they plan to reduce their water consumption by a minimum of
25% in the future. Ninety-nine per cent of these businesses had submitted
plans by 2009 (QG 2009).
Case study - Water user associations in Lombok, Indonesia
To meet Indonesia's Millennium Development Goals for potable water and
livelihood improvement, allocation of water needs to be well managed to
address the competing interests of agriculture, tourism and urban water
in regional areas. In Lombok, good quality naturally flowing spring water
from around the base of Mt Rinjani in Lombok is a significant resource
providing drinking water to local villages and towns, the city of Mataram,
increasing tourism development and bottled water companies. Springs are
also the source of river water which is diverted for irrigation, mainly for rice,
to sustain the population. However one-third of the natural springs have
dried up (Transform
et al
. 2005). While long-standing processes are in place
for distributing irrigation water through Water User Associations (WUAs),
these additional competing demands threaten maintenance of sustainable
yields and environmental flow of water sources and watercourses. Moreover
local populations near springs feel powerless to maintain stewardship over
the resource.
WUAs are democratically formed associations of water-using farmers that
are recognised by government as having a legitimate role in managing water
for irrigation. Many WUAs successfully manage water for irrigation through
