29 May, 2015

California seeks drought advice from Melbourne


C

alifornia is looking to Melbourne for solutions to prolonged drought, after researchers find strategies implemented during the 2010 drought were successful.

The Millennium Drought in southeastern Australia forced Greater Melbourne, a city of 4.3 million people, to successfully implement innovations that hold critical lessons for water-stressed regions around the world, according to findings by UC Irvine, the University of Melbourne and the Federation University Australia.

It wasn’t a new pipeline over the mountains, special rate hikes or a $6 billion desalination plant that kept faucets running. Rather, integrated outreach by utilities and agencies required to work together led to a culture shift among ordinary water users, according to the work published online today in the WIREs Water journal.

By the time Australia’s worst-ever recorded drought ended in 2010, one in three Melbourne households had a rainwater tank, similar to a rain barrel in the U.S.

Read the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Newsroom story - “California looks to Melbourne for drought-coping strategies”.

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