Mary river DAMN

This letter arrived in the post today. Ages ago, I emailed the premier my opinions on the proposed Traveston dam. I am glad that I got a response, but it does nothing to allay my concerns.

Basically, I said in my email, Brisbane residents do not want the devastation of an ecosystem on their consciences every time they have a glass of water. We don't want our endangered species in a zoo, or a "scientific research facility", we want them in our landscape, enriching the planet.

I suggested some simple, constructive ideas in my email, for example, spending the millions of dollars on residential and commercial grey water systems, water tanks and fixing leaks, instead.

Brisbane does not have a rainfall problem, it has a rain harvesting problem!

I look at huge shopping complexes, such as Westfield Chermside and all I see is hundreds of square meters of rooftop catchment being wasted. What about all those toilets and handbasins in commercial buildings? A large waste water treatment system, such as Biolytix, could capture and reuse that water.

It doesn't make sense to me, that the solution for a drought, is relying even more heavily on rainfall. Dams are an inefficient way to harvest and store water. The large surface area means that in our hot, sunny climate the dam will suffer huge losses from evaporation. Also, the runoff that the dam captures, could have manure and fertilisers in it, which means the water will have to undergo a series of expensive treatment processes before it is drinkable. All of that, just to get flushed down some Mcmansion owning @#%$er's toilet.

For more information and actions you can take go to: http://www.savethemaryriver.com/
you could also join this group: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-the-Mary-River/9768953481