Drought-hit Queensland turns to Newater solution

(Click to enlarge.)

This is an article from The Straits Times (Tuesday, Jan 30 2007), regarding the environmental problems that has begun to worsen by the day.

The purpose of this article is simple. It is a warning to us that the environment has been changing drastically throughout the past few decades. Serious droughts, serious floods, serious climate changes and other environmental problems have worsened and increased. In this article, the drought that Queensland had faced was said to be the 'worst drought in more than a century' and scientists say it could be the driest period in 1,000 years. Indeed, the environment is badly affected by the harms that people have caused on mother earth consciously and unconsciously. As many countries continue to develop, pollution problems often are neglected and cannot be avoided.

Due to the drought, acute water shortages are experienced. Thus, a new technology is introduced - Newater. This advancing technology of creating drinkable water from sewage water must be considered by very country in the world. Like the situation in Queensland, people may not know whether they will be victims of serious droughts. Even countries like Singapore who do not experience extreme weather conditions have many Newater plants to supplement their water supply. To me, I feel that this technology is worth the money of the country - it is an investment. The quote from the article, 'There's no choice - it's liquid gold', shows the importance of this investment.

However, it is easier said than done. The huge sum of money that is used to start this technology is worth considering. Some may even choose not to adopt this method of solving drought-caused problems. Such countries like New South Wales and South Australia have distanced themselves from this idea, as they have some other strategies and claimed that newater should be used for irrigation only. Probably they do not know much and have certain assumptions about the quality of newater.... Could they have been experiencing financial problems? Or could they have some better ways of solving the problem? In times like this, you either drink water or you die. Well, it is their decision.

I agree that the quality of life here is much better as compared to these countries experiencing extreme weather. Singapore, being technologically advanced and quite a well-to-do country have made me feel that this technology is worth the money. I may not know really know much about the views and the reasons of these countries not accepting newater, as my thoughts and feelings are entirely based on the article after reading it. Furthermore, Singapore is considered far from Australia.

To many Singaporeans and countries that have running water right from their taps, this article acts like a 'wake up call' for us. Water, indeed, is liquid gold. Every living thing in this world needs water. Probably, people who have lived through the droughts would be able to appreciate their running taps better than we do.

~490 words~