The Drought

Rachel:

I can't believe that I haven't written about the drought! First day I got here, I arrived at Lauren's house and I was so thirsty. Sitting on an 18 hour flight with recycled air will do that to you. So I asked for a glass of water. Lauren, being the funny lady that she is, yelled at me, "Don't you know there is a drought doing on here?!?!" I had totally forgot that Australia was having rainfall issues! I had forgot this when I was packing as well because I used valuable space and weight in my luggage to pack my wellies.

The drought is probably the worst in Victoria. In Melbourne we have water restrictions, which means we are supposed to use 155 L a day or less. This is because Melbourne's water catchments are running out. They say that the catchments have enough water for the next two years for the Melbourne area. That is pretty scary. Think about it. You only have enough water for two years! What happens two years from now if the rain doesn't pick up?

When Kurtis and I arrived, the water catchments were at 31%. Today they are at 25.6%. Frightening. Kurtis and I try to save water by taking shorter showers, not watering our plants or watering them using grey water (water caught in a bucket in our shower) and by trying not to flood our house. In Melbourne, you can't water your lawn, refill your pool, wash your car and a bunch of other stuff.

We really take water for granted in Canada. Can you imagine not being able to water you plants? Or wash your car? Crazy! We are extremely lucky to have our water, but just because we have so much, doesn't mean it will be that way forever. We should conserve our water where ever we are.

BUT! Melbournians do not recycle their water! I cannot believe this fact! If you are running out of water, why wouldn't you treat the water and recycle it? In Toronto, we recycle our water. Our treated waste water goes into Lake Ontario and then we pump it out again, treat it and then drink it. If I only had water for two years, I wouldn't be too picky about drinking clean recycled water....

Australian Word of the Day: "Creche" - means daycare. Some lady asked me if IKEA Smaland was a creche and I had no clue what she was talking about so I asked her what she said a million times and she kept saying creche. My co-worker had to excuse me because I was Canadian and had no idea what she was asking.