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Editor's note
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Much of southern Australia is facing increasing water stress and capital city water supplies are falling, it’s scary stuff. However, expensive desalination plants are gearing up to supply more water and this week we took a look at why we shouldn’t be scared of treated wastewater and how well it’s working in places such as Perth and Adelaide.
I grew up in Toowoomba, and the mid-2000s were a time when my little Queensland town was dominated by debate over recycled waste. South-east Queensland was plagued by drought. At the height of the debate about treating sewage for drinking water, the three dams that supplied the town with water were less than 30% full. Level 4 water restrictions were in place, which meant The Garden City residents were allowed to water their flowers three days a week, with a bucket. Pretty tough when you’re home of The Carnival of Flowers. The Welcome to Toowoomba sign near my house was also vandalised to say Poo-woomba, and the catch-cry from the No campaigners was was a dangerous combo of
alarmist medical myths and the insistence we wouldn’t be treated “like guineapigs”. Long story short, 62% of Toowoomba residents ended up voting against using recycled water and that was the end of the
matter. Rain did eventually fall, dams were replenished and the carnival went on, but if it hadn’t I’ll be buggered knowing what would have happened to our parched little town.
But again, many capital city water storages are in steep decline. So what is the response of water authorities in the 2019, 13 years after Toowoomba’s ‘no’ vote? Not surprisingly, more desalination is their answer. In this piece Ian Wright and Jason Reynolds look at the best ways to ensure water security in the future.
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Molly Glassey
Audience Development Manager
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Top story
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The enthusiasm for recycling water that Australians had at the height of the drought little more than a decade ago has waned.
Shaney Balcombe/AAP
Ian Wright, Western Sydney University; Jason Reynolds, Western Sydney University
Cities relied entirely on conserving and recycling water to get through the last big drought. We now have desalination plants, but getting the most out of our water reserves still makes sense.
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The largest desalination plant in Australia, Victoria’s A$3.5 billion ‘water factory’ can supply nearly a third of Melbourne’s needs.
Nils Versemann/Shutterstock
Ian Wright, Western Sydney University; Jason Reynolds, Western Sydney University
Sydney and Melbourne are bringing desalination plants back on stream and Adelaide plans to increase its plant's output. Perth depends on desalination. But is it the best way to achieve water security?
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Listen
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Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation
Today on Trust Me, I'm An Expert, a refugee legal expert busts myths about how proposed medical transfer rules would work, and described some of this week's border security rhetoric as 'reckless'.
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Arts + Culture
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Louise Pryke, Macquarie University
Enheduanna's name means 'Ornament of Heaven'. She wrote hymns and myths more than 4000 years ago, studied the stars and yet is almost entirely unknown in the present day.
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Donna Lee Brien, CQUniversity Australia; Margaret McAllister, CQUniversity Australia
To the public, nursing is much like teaching work – known to be valuable, but not worthy of much critical attention. Accordingly, nursing is rarely represented in any depth in popular culture.
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Environment + Energy
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Anthony Dosseto, University of Wollongong
A new report predicts that one-third of the ice in the Himalayas will melt, even if we contain global warming to 1.5C. So what does that mean for the flood-prone valleys below?
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Bill Laurance, James Cook University
The natural world depends on insects to function, but they may be the next casualty of climate change.
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Politics + Society
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Nicholas Procter, University of South Australia; Mary Anne Kenny, Murdoch University
A bill to allow for asylum seeker on Nauru and Manus Island to be transferred to Australia for medical and psychiatric treatment has passed both Houses. How will it change things for those detained?
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Asher Hirsch, Monash University; Daniel Ghezelbash, Macquarie University; Regina Jefferies, UNSW
Australia's immigration department doesn't keep a record of the number of people applying for asylum at airports. This means there is no oversight over the treatment of those seeking protection.
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Science + Technology
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Lisa A Williams, UNSW
Don't pursue happiness as a goal, instead make sure what you do from day to day provides a sense of meaning in life.
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Michael Milford, Queensland University of Technology; Peter Stratton, The University of Queensland
We have robots that can walk and run but still a long way to go before the technology matches the cybernetic skills in the new science fiction film Alita: Battle Angel.
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Health + Medicine
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Justine R. Smith, Flinders University; João M. Furtado, Universidade de Sao Paulo
As ophthalmologists, we've noticed an uptick in cases of vision problems caused by syphilis. Practising safe sex is important for our eye health too.
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Michael Taylor, Flinders University
The aftermath of flooding provides the perfect breeding ground for mould in our homes. It's important to properly remove it so it doesn't affect our health.
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Business + Economy
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Gigi Foster, UNSW; Paul Frijters, London School of Economics and Political Science
There are things we can do, but the Economic Society's poll finds that not all of them are part of the traditional economists' toolkit.
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Samuel Wilson, Swinburne University of Technology; Jason Pallant, Swinburne University of Technology; Timothy Colin Bednall, Swinburne University of Technology
More than a third (35.4%) of respondents surveyed by the Australian Leadership Index believe banking and financial institutions show "no leadership for the greater good".
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Education
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Brian Lovell, The University of Queensland
New technologies like facial recognition are coming – whether we like it or not. We can't turn back the tide, but we can manage new technology to do the least harm and most good.
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Richard Holden, UNSW
Research shows small financial incentives for doing maths homework can increase maths achievement. But this raises some tricky ethical questions.
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