***** water ***** part2 The water crisis - part twoSunday,...

***** water ***** part2


The water crisis - part two
Sunday, March 20, 2005

"A rain tank on a single Sydney carport in an average year could collect 30,000 litres."


In part two of our special investigation, Christopher Zinn reports on which businesses are making money and which are losing as Australia fights to conserve one of its most precious commodities, water. One industry claims its turnover has dropped 40 percent, with the loss of thousands of jobs.



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Last week on Business Sunday, we looked at how some businesses were doing their bit to conserve water and how those that weren't could face mandatory restrictions. In part two of his special report on The Water Crisis, Christopher Zinn reports on the businesses who are looking at boom times and those who face an uncertain future.

Christopher Zinn: Call them regulations or restrictions water is not flowing as freely as it once did. And for industries such as nurseries and turf growing, the grass isn't getting any greener.




Jeff Hatton, Cobbitty Turf: Thirty to fifty percent in that ball park.

Christopher Zinn: Down that much?

Jeff Hatton: Down that much.

Christopher Zinn: Water born products are making a come back, this time the old Aussie tank has been re badged as a rain water harvesting system.

Col Weatherstone Blue Scope Water: If I look at water use over the past 20 years where we've increased our water usage by 65% ... something has to give.

Christopher Zinn: It's all part of the new water landscape. Restrictions in many cities pulling the plug on thirsty gardens, perhaps forever. And a new raft of products designed to use water much more wisely.

Frank Sartor, NSW Utilities Minister: There is a thriving business in water conservation at the moment and so we've lost employment a little bit in one sector but we've gained employment in another.

Christopher Zinn: Last month Melbourne was soaked by record rains but much went down the drain, not into dams. Increasing volumes are being 'harvested' from roofs and re-used for flushing and even drinking in homes and offices alike.

John Connor, Australian Conservation Foundation: There are actually great opportunities for water conservation, we speak of a virtual dam where people and business and people in their homes can use water efficiency as well as rain water tanks.

Christopher Zinn: But there's a rather dry economic catch. A rain tank on a single Sydney carport in an average year could collect 30,000 litres. But the sums don't always add up, according to David Beattie of ARID, the Australian Rainwater Industry Development group.

David Beattie, ARID It's very realistic, this tank behind us probably saves this factory 1,000 litres a day, 365,000 litres a year, a pay back time when an installation like this though would be around 9 years, so from a commercial point of view water is still a very cheap commodity.

Christopher Zinn: But domestically water has different values. The Sandhurst estate in south east Melbourne shows the dollars which are being poured into water conservation residentially. Billed as Australia's first drought proof suburb its greens and gardens are fed by class recycled water, polished -- as they say -- from a nearby sewage works. Legislation across the country is driving the new water savvy concerns — proving even NO clouds can have a silver lining.

David Beattie: This year 375,000 new homes will be built, if we take that each one of those could by legislation have to have a water tank , it's a huge industry.

Christopher Zinn: Col Weatherstone's long career at BHP has seen him in coal, steel, shipbuilding and now the next big thing. Blue Scope Water started last May and is opening up around the country. Nylex is also expanding fast and sees sales growing from 30 million dollars this year to 70 million within two years.

Col Weatherstone: The thing that we are now able to do is have tanks that are designed for the urban environment and to put together the whole package so that we take a lot of the pain out of having a rain water harvesting system installed in your own home

Christopher Zinn: Certain systems are designed to be smart with water, but years of evolving any product can be threatened by sudden regulatory changes. Some people are very excited about the business of water conservation but others claim because of the restrictions they have literally been hung out to dry. It's not that they need water for the production process but that their customers need it but can't get it.

Jeff Hatton: Our economy is booming but in our particular industries it is not, it is stagnant.

Christopher Zinn: Jeff Hatton runs a turf farm south of Sydney. He says water restrictions in New South Wales do NOT give exemptions for buyers watering their new lawns.

Jeff Hatton: What is perceived as being bad that I think is dictating government policy and I really think that the average householder is not going to be happy when he puts down a lawn and it dies because he can't water it correctly with the correct exemptions.

Christopher Zinn: Tom Swift who installs sprinkler systems is also hurting. Sydney restrictions ban their use and only allow hand watering, leading to what's claimed to be a 40% drop in turnover.

Jolyon Burnett, Irrigation Association of Australia: It represents his superannuation, it represents his livelihood and that effectively has been destroyed overnight, if he wanted to sell and move on the business is worth nothing.

Christopher Zinn: The irony is the irrigators claim their products are actually MORE water efficient. This one is only allowed to be used because it is part of a university study.

Jolyon Burnett: The industry is full of technologies designed to save water yet these current restrictions actually discourage investment either by industry and business or by consumers.

Christopher Zinn: Irrigators and turf farmers say it's hardly any kind of playing field as other states have fairer and less punitive restrictions. They argue there was no consultation. But the minister is not impressed.

Frank Sartor, Utilities Minister: We have met with them on many occasions but not enough consultation is in fact a euphuism for we don't want the restrictions to effect us. Unfortunately if you look around the world whenever city authorities have imposed water restrictions, they invariably focus on the sort of things that we have had to focus on.

Christopher Zinn: Yet the crisis has also brought out some big picture water recycling schemes. Similar technology to this plant at the Sydney Olympic village is already working on a massive scale in Singapore. So, why not here? At north head about 400 Olympic swimming pools everyday guaranteed, goes out deep into the ocean, virtually untreated.

Christopher Zinn: John van der Merwe 's business plan involves getting into your sewer. His group Services Sydney wants you to have the choice of paying them to recycle your waste instead of letting Sydney Water dump it.

John Van der Merwe, Services Sydney: We're saying the customer will have a choice to actually purchase or procure over time a modern water reclamation system or the choice is stark, an old waste disposal system.

Christopher Zinn: Services Sydney has already gone to the national competition council claiming they are being blocked by the water utility. They say it's just like other telcos using Telstra's lines in the name of competition.

John Van de Merwe: We need to access the retail customer, selling the service we want, and let the customer chose. That's what we are about, we know there is a good business there.

Christopher Zinn: At this photo opportunity, the pollies were talking up private sector involvement in recycling schemes for new suburbs. But Frank Sartor pours cold water on the Services Sydney plans, saying there's no such shared access regime anywhere in the world.

Frank Sartor, NSW Utilities Minister: We don't mind private sector involvement at all, in fact we want to encourage it. The problem is they don't have an income stream to fund their massive grand plans and I think the proposal is still a bit half baked with the greatest respect to Services Sydney.

Christopher Zinn: There's a structural re-alignment effecting everyone who uses water. Innovation, adaptation and change is everywhere. At the grass roots level there's even a turf which can even be irrigated with sea water

Jeff Hatton: And it's a very lovely looking grass, it's a beautiful grass. I've got two or three thousand metres of it down here now, and I'm planning to plant out a couple of hectares so it should be ready in the market next year.

Christopher Zinn: And once boutique water recycling schemes are coming out of the closet and into the big time. At Wollongong's Bluescope Steel they're building one with Sydney Water to replace 50% of the drinking water they need to quench steel. And as for rain water, well the sky is the limit.