Having lived in both Toronto where there are 5 giant freshwater lakes all within 1000 kilometers, and Melbourne, situated on our world’s second driest continent (after Antarctica surprisingly), I have lived in both a city with as much as water as needed and one on regulated water restrictions. As of February 2007, the water storage levels in the major Australian cities were as follows (according to Wikipedia):
Adelaide – 55%
Brisbane – 21.7%
Melbourne – 36.5%
Perth – 23.6%
Sydney – 37.1%
Although Australia was experiencing an especially significant drought around this time, these figures have steadily dropped over the years. Currently, the restrictions in the country circle around such things as watering gardens, washing cars and filling swimming pools, all things I take for granted back here in Ontario, Canada. Based on their positions next to the ocean, the obvious choice would be desalinization of the ocean water, yet this option remains far too expensive. Should the country enforce even stricter restrictions? Do they need to bite the bullet and use desalinization. I even heard the crazy story that a smaller inland city in Australia was even attempting to clean and filter the water used in thier own toilets!
