The Australian reports that the residents of South-East Queensland have halved their use of water over the past 5 years in response to the drought and resulting water restricitions.

It’s great to see people actively reducing their water use or installing rainwater tanks to overcome the water shortages that were caused by the drought. Now that water storage levels are back up to 74 per cent it will be interesting to see whether usage trends back toward pre-drought levels or whether the water wise philosophy will continue.

The Queensland Government has been investing heavily in water infrastructure in an attempt to drought-proof the State for the future. This investment has led to a significant increase in the price paid for water by Queenslanders – prices have risen by around 20 per cent over the last year and are forecast to increase again each year at the same rate over the next 2 to 3 years.

The Government is being criticised for this infrastructure spending now that the drought has receded. I view this criticism as unfair and short-sighted as the likelihood of future droughts is high. However, I strongly disagree with the Government using a desalination plant as the linchpin of its drought-proofing strategy. The amount of electricity required to operate such a plant is staggering and flys in the face of the so called climate change strategy.