The federal budget was announced on 13 May and includes some green initiatives.

Water for the Future

A national water policy framework is being introduced and called Water for the Future. There is funding of $12.9 billion over the next 10 years.Objectives/projects include:

• $1 billion to attract investment in  major projects such as desalination, recycling and large scale water harvesting
• $255 million for saving water projects
• $250 million towards water tank installations

The Government is also going to accelerate the $400million for water efficiency and entitlements in the Murray-Darling basin.

Green Loans

$300 million over 5 years is being directed to the Green Loans program. This program will help households add solar, water and energy efficient products.

Another $150 million will help insulate rental properties over the next 5 years.

Another $14 million is going to the Energy Efficiency of Electrical Appliances policy over four years to help us all choose the greenest appliances for our needs.

Environmental care

Over the next five years, they will also invest $2.2 billion to “better protect, manage and improve” our natural resources and environmental systems.

The following 6 focus areas will be reviewed each year:

• the national reserve system
• natural icons and biodiversity
• coastal environments and critical aquatic habitats
• sustainable farm practices
• natural resource management in remote and northern Australia
• community capacity, knowledge and engagement

We look forward to a positive change on our environment!

Posted: May 20th, 2008 under general.
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Books are a valuable resource we should be treasuring, but the reality is that creating books is not very environmentally friendly. And ebooks will never have the same feel and appeal as holding a new book in your hand and reading it curled up in bed or stretched out on the beach.

One company in the UKis giving us a middle option - probably not half way between an ebook and a traditionally published book, but still an improvement. They use paper prepared from sustainable forests and they recycle 91% of the water they use. Add in a few other sound business practices (e.g. recycling in the office, printing double sided in house, avoiding cars) and they are a better option for book publishing.

So, if you had a choice between a traditional book, an ebook or a hard copy book printed using less resources, which would you take?

Does this give you inspiration and ideas to make changes in your industry for a greener alternative?

Posted: May 6th, 2008 under green products.
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The Australian website, Save Time Online, has had a listing for Precious Water for some time. But now we have also joined in one of their seasonal promotions which we thought might interest many people.

The promotion is called May Madness and (not surprisingly) runs between 1st and 31st of May. A number of Australian businesses are making special offers available during May so you can get some great deals - and there’s no charge to access the deals, either.

So go Mad and see what bargains you can find!

Posted: April 29th, 2008 under general.
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All of those prunings can be used directly on the garden as mulch - saves trying to break it down or add it to the compost!

The big prunings may not be what we are used to seeing in our gardens, but they are very good for muclhing trees:

• like all mulch, they reduce water evaporation and loss from the soil
• the prunings also shade the soil and roots
• being large, they make it harder for chooks, birds and other animals reaching the root area and scratching away your soil
• they will slowly break down to provide nutrients for the soil and trees

However, if the prunings are too dry, they could provide a fire risk in dry periods so this is better done in Autumn than spring…

Posted: April 4th, 2008 under gardening.
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We were recently visiting and saw someone using cold water to help defrost some meat from the freezer - it is so long since we have seen someone do this that we had forgotten it as an option!

Of course, using water in this way is not a constructive use of water - and it really doesn’t speed the process that much. Warm water is faster, but also wastes water.

A microwave is a quicker and more effective means of defrosting food - it doesn’t use water, but it does use energy.

The best option is to plan ahead and defrost things slowly in the fridge overnight. You could also leave it on the bench overnight to defrost but that has the potential for bacteria and toxins to flourish in the food.

Posted: April 2nd, 2008 under general.
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Yesterday, we visited the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne.

The weather and gardens were beautiful, but we really noticed how lush and green the lawns were. It was inviting and refreshing to see all that green - and the number of people picnicking there proved the appeal.

What was interesting was to see various notices around the gardens referring to their water usage. They have reduced their water consumption in the last 10 years by about 50% through a system of testing, training staff and improved horticultural practices.

It is an interesting thought that checking your irrigation systems can make a difference to your water consumption. of course, the Botanical Gardens have major irrigation systems to check - they manually check the pressure level of all sprinklers for instance.

However, at home you can check the following things:

• do fittings fit your tap so that there are no drips and leaks when you use a hose or system?
• is your hose in good condition without leaks?
• if you have a watering system, is every sprinkler head clean and clear to allow water flow?
• does your tap timer turn the tap completely off when it finishes?
• does your tap drip?
• do all sprinkler heads point towards plants as appropriate - as plants grow and gardens change, the heads may need to be adjusted

When you consider that a leaking tap can waste up to 20,000 litres of water a year, these regular checks can save a significant amount of water.

Posted: March 30th, 2008 under gardening, saving water.
Comments: 1

How wonderful it was to go to sleep last night with the sound of rain on the roof, and to look out the window this morning and see damp ground!

Did you make the most of the rainfall?

Some things you may have done were:

• put pot plants in open areas
• put out some buckets or containers to catch water
• remove the cover from your pool to get a top up
• danced in the rain, enjoy the feeling of rain and be grateful for the water in our gardens

Posted: March 25th, 2008 under nature's gift.
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The cost of a litre of water is actually very low in Australia - which means that saving water by harvesting rain probably won’t save you a huge amount of water. That is, you won’t save a lot on your water usage charges.

However, collecting water in a tank can save you money in other ways:

• the amount of water you use form the mains is used to determine the amount of sewerage disposal you are charged. The assumption is that if you use more water, you will put more into the waste system, so reducing water usage will save you in sewerage costs
• a healthy garden can provide shading for your house which reduces your need for (and therefore the expense associated with ) air conditioning
• having water for growing your own fruit and vegetables will save you money from buying food at the shops - especially if you prefer organic options. It also is better for the environment as there is less transportation and farming machine costs.
• you can wash your car at home instead of at a commercial car wash - a much cheaper option!
• keeping soil around your home moist (by watering gardens) may prevent cracks in your house resulting from dried out soil and foundations. Fixing cracks in brickwork and plaster can be expensive and time consuming, and that doesn’t count re-stumping or potential dangers from instability either.

Posted: March 14th, 2008 under general, saving water.
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For many people, just having a lush or at least a living garden is enough reason to use water on your plants. But there are actually some other advantages to keeping the soil moist.

If the land around your home gets overly dry, it can lead to changes in the soil which can affect the foundations of the house - cracks in the plaster is just a symptom of this. Moisture in the soil maintains stability of the ground and house.

Having a green and moist garden also offers a reduced risk of fire - dry and dead wood burns more readily than green, moist wood.

Of course, just having a nice environment, a connection with nature and a safer, welcoming environment for the kids are also important reasons for ensuring there is enough water for our gardens as well as our personal needs.

Posted: March 5th, 2008 under gardening, general.
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Did you know that to grow $1 worth of rice in Australia needs over 1700 litres of water?

That is a lot of water for a small amount of food. I’m not sure how much water it takes in other countries but it is less than Australia because they grow rice in wet areas - we grow it closer to the desert than the coast. 

Maybe some scientists could find a way to grow rice with less water? Or maybe we need to find better places to grow it?

I wonder if brown rice is better because it uses less water in processing?

Posted: February 22nd, 2008 under general, junior water, saving water.
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