05/06/2005 – Australian
cities won't be sustainable in the long term
if they continue to waste water at current
levels, says WWF-Australia on World Environment
Day, whose theme this year is focused on "green
cities".
“Water shortages in Australian cities are
evidence that our urban centres are on borrowed
time,” said Dr Ray Nias, WWF-Australia's Director
for Conservation.
Australian city dwellers use the world’s highest
quality drinking water to flush toilets and
grow lawns. More than 30 per cent of a typical
urban household’s water quota is put on the
garden while 20 per cent goes down the drain.
New water restrictions and dams at record-low
levels show exactly how the country's cities
are now running on empty.
“On World Environment Day city-dwellers are
being urged to do everything they can to look
after the rivers, aquifers, and wetlands that
sustain them," Nias added.
“There are two ways people can help – use
less water and make sure their governments
don’t cut environmental flows in these rivers."
In a desperate bid to service Sydney’s water
needs, flows in the Hawkesbury Nepean River
will now be cut by a further 50 per cent ¬–
a disaster for the river’s already stressed
ecosystem.
“It’s a precedent that other thirsty cities
may follow," said Nias. “For the cities
in the world’s driest habitable continent
to waste so much water and then cut the life-giving
flows to rivers by half is a disaster.”
Australia is currenllty experiencing one
of its worst drought in 60 years. The drought
affects the eastern coastal states of New
South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, as well
as South Australia and the southern island
of Tasmania. Many parts of Australia have
not a single drop of rain in April, according
to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
NOTES:
• World Environment Day, commemorated each
year on 5 June, is one of the principal vehicles
through which the United Nations stimulates
worldwide awareness of the environment and
enhances political attention and action. The
World Environment Day theme selected for 2005
is "Green Cities" and the slogan
is "Plan for the Planet!"
