Save Water Target 155 - a community action to save our water
Logging catchments will cost the water of 500,000 people every year.
Our dams are still low and we need to save water. The state government are asking everyone in Melbourne to use no more than 155 litres of water per day so that they can let the logging companies keep logging your catchments and discount their water logging costs against your water savings.
The Victorian Government is working to secure Melbourne’s water supplies for the long term yet they allow logging companies to continue their wood chipping.
The state government logs 5 of Melbourne’s 11 catchments, including the Thomson Melbourne’s largest water catchment. Each of these catchments being logged are losing precious water. To replace this lost water the state government are recommisioning the Tarago dam , this will provide an additional 16 billion litres of water to Melbourne, the same amount that will be lost from logging the other catchments.
The Tarago will cost Melburnians $100 million dollars. Under this government scheme, Target 155, the government intend to allow the Vicforests to put all of our children’s future water supply at risk by securing them long term contracts.
Vicforests, the company facing parliamentary inquiry next month for running a government business into debt and the same company that turned $120 million dollars worth of our publicly owned native forests into a whopping $5 million dollar loss this year, will be permitted bed down their logging operations in our catchments for the next 15 years.
As the state government continues to provide a licence to lose money off the timber from our catchments they also provide a licence to lose revenue off the water.
Target 155 aims to achieve similar household water consumption levels to Stage 4 Water Restrictions, but gives you more control over how you achieve your savings and less control over what’s happening in your catchments.
So why don’t you let Mr Brumby and Mr Holding know what you think and click on one of the links at the top of the web page to write a letter. If they want us to save water then they can practice what they preach and get logging out of our catchments - its only fair Mr Brumby!
The Thomson Catchment. Providing 60% of Melbournes water.
The red blobs are logging coupes, The rainbow area is the catchment boundary and rainfall pattern with the lowest rainfall area being orange and the highest being blue
The Brumby Government has asked us to save water under the Target 155 Scheme. A welcome initiative and we have already done a fair bit.
Now it's their turn. Logging in Melbournes catchments costs billions of litres of water and its time for the government to stop this, its the least we should expect as water saving voters.
Native forest clearfell logging in our catchments costs us billions of litres of water as its concentrated in the areas of highest rainfall. Once logged, the area is burned and the clock is reset by sowing new, even aged trees.
This type of "management" subjects our water catchments to a 50% reduction in water for the next 150 years as thirsty, re-growing forests take up the water falling in catchments.
VicForests, the Brumby government’s logging department, and the logging companies appreciate your sacrifice so they can keep on destroying our water catchments.
The Thomson catchment
Copyright 2008
This picture is from McMahons Creek, one of Melbourne’s catchments, this paper is made from these forests.
Government’s native forest logging will use :
16,000,000,000 L
Annual future water loss in Melbourne’s catchments alone.