Vic: Will pollies say thanks but no tanks in new building code?

AAP General News (Australia)
08-25-2008
Vic: Will pollies say thanks but no tanks in new building code?

Victoria's looming desalination plant .. and other pricey water saving measures ..

may cast a shadow over the future of the backyard water tank in new Victorian homes.

A battle has broken out in senior government ranks about the viability of backyard
water tanks in a new environmentally-friendly building code .. as the government tips
almost five billion dollars into big-ticket pipelines and the desal plant.

A senior government figure says the debate is crucial to Victoria's water planning.

He's told Fairfax newspapers with desalination plants and other water initiatives coming
in .. the back yard rainwater tank has been singled out as something that may not be warranted
in the future.

Currently water tanks and solar hot water is required for every new home.

Bureaucrats close to Water Minister TIM HOLDING argue tanks should be left to personal
choice when the desal plant comes on line .. but others .. including Planning Minister
JUSTIN MADDEN .. favour keeping tanks in the new code.

A leading expert in water tanks .. University of Melbourne systems scientist and microbiologist
PETER COOMBES .. has been commissioned by the government to review the future of the water
tank.



Two reports by Professor COOMBES question the wisdom of the government's reliance on
big spending to secure water supplies .. and suggest taxpayers could save billions if
the state's reliance on expensive water infrastructure was reduced.

Professor COOMBES declined to comment on his reports .. but says his work shows 120
gigalitres of water could be saved each year if every Melbourne home had a water tank
.. doubling previous estimates of the possible savings from Melbourne's water authorities.

AAP RTV jrd/psm/

KEYWORD: WATER VIC (MELBOURNE)

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