Melbourne’s water supply at risk due to ‘collapse’ of forests caused by logging

Tree-felling helped trigger ‘hidden collapse’ of mountain ash forests, ecologists say

 

 

A hidden collapse meant that while the ecosystem may appear superficially intact, the lag time in recovering old-growth mountain ash forests — the linchpin in preserving mountain ash ecosystems — “means that collapse is almost inevitable”.

Even if there were no additional logging and no significant bushfires for the next 50 years, modelling by Lindenmayer and his co-author, Chloe Sato, showed the number of hollow-bearing trees in 2067 would be at best less than 10% than the number of hollow-bearing trees in 1997.

The number of hollow-bearing trees had already more than halved since 1997, the modelling showed, while numbers of greater glider had declined 65% and numbers of critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum had halved.

Guardian Australia revealed this month that the Victorian forest agency VicForests had begun logging Barjag Flat, a nationally significant hotspot for greater gliders.

Lindenmayer said if drastic measures were not immediately taken to halt or greatly reduce native logging operations in mountain ash forests, the forest may not be able to recover from the level of projected collapse in 2067 and would instead be replaced by an open acacia woodland.

Either option — a young and growing mountain ash forest or an acacia woodland — would be potentially disastrous for Melbourne’s water supply, he said.

The majority of Melbourne’s water catchments are in mountain ash forests, which are either protected in national parks or in state forests where logging is either allowed or has previously occurred.

If those forests have been damaged or are still growing, Lindenmayer said, they draw 12 megalitres more water per hectare per year than forests that are more than 100 years old.

More than 98% of the mountain ash forest in Victoria is no more than 80 years old, and most of those in key catchment areas are less than 80.

In the Upper Thomson catchment, which feeds Melbourne’s largest water supply dam, the Thomson reservoir, about 61% of the trees have been logged.

“That’s a serious issue because two-thirds of all the rainfall in that catchment falls on one-third of the area and that’s the ash forest … that’s called an own goal,” Lindenmayer said.

“The value of the water that flows into the water catchments is about 25.5 times higher than the value of the timber cut from those same catchments.”

An economic analysis published by the Threatened Species Recovery Hub found that economic contribution of the water supply to the Victorian economy was $310m, compared with $12m from the native timber industry.

“My hope is that at some stage people will wake up and say, ‘Oh my god, that’s the water supply for 4.5 million Melburnians,’” Lindenmayer said. “Is it appropriate to compromise the water supply of soon-to-be Australia’s largest city?”

He said the situation would be worsened if the federal government introduced new Regional Forestry Agreements to replace the rolled-over short-term agreements, which are due to expire in March 2020.

“The new RFAs are going to be even more disastrous because what they will do is lock in a guaranteed level of saw long supply … which isn’t really sustainable,” he said. “The RFAs don’t take into account other values like water or tourism … it’s nonsensical. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

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We’ve grown complacent about water again, Melbourne

Melburnians were greedy for water over the summer, causing dams across the city to drop by 64 billion litres to 65 per cent capacity. We consumed more water than in previous years and as a result the water levels are well under target. Melbourne Water says that each person needs to use six fewer litres of water per day to get back on track. We’ve grown complacent. It wasn’t always like this.

Harken your mind back to the good old days, from late-1996 to early-2010, the time known as the millennium drought. These were hot yet dark times. It was dreadful when the newspapers told us each morning that we faced existential risk in what was the worst drought ever. It was horrible to consider the collapse of agriculture and the damage being done to our ecosystems. It was annoying to keep a bucket at the bottom of the shower and witness our gardens dying around us because twice weekly watering under Stage 3a water restrictions wasn’t sufficient to sustain life. But we can be nostalgic for the spirit of that era: we banded together to resiliently reduce water consumption in creative and exciting ways.

Nostalgia has become popular lately. Elle magazine hails it as the fashion trend for 2018, telling punters to expect ’90s-era tartan and grunge on the clothing racks this season. As a result of internet memes and nostalgic conversations, I’ve thought more about my old toy Tamagotchi in the past few months than I did in 1997, when I was actually charged with the task of feeding the thing. Now, a new mobile app of the game will be released as a toy. The past is appealing.

In politics, US President Trump was elected on the premise that he would “make America great again” and bring back the golden sheen of the past. Australian politics is likewise nostalgic. Late last year, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that he was hoping to “restore John Howard-style cabinet government” to put the electorate at ease after what has been a politically chaotic decade. Howard, of course, was our nation’s leader through most of the drought.

And the drought was our Blitz, it showed our ability to make do and mend, our stoicism and determination in the face of tough circumstances. If Melbourne Water wants us to reduce our water consumption, they could evoke this spirit of the drought. It’s time to save water again.

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Tank water: How to protect yourself from gastro, toxic metals and more

Beautiful, pure rainwater is nature’s gift of hydration from the heavens, right?

Well, not quite. Many experts say untreated rainwater may not be safe for human consumption, even though national guidelines suggest the risk of becoming ill from drinking rainwater is low.

The bacteria that can thrive in water tanks and the toxic metal traces that can be found in roof runoff prompts experts, such as Michael Oelgemoeller a water treatment researcher from James Cook University, to suggest rainwater should be your last choice if you have access to other sources of treated water.

“There is this public view that rainwater is clean and yummy and tasty but it really depends on how you collect it,” Associate Professor Oelgemoeller said.

“I would not drink it for sure. It’s recommended for dishwashers, for toilets, for gardening but drinking is a different story.”

Flinders University environmental health researcher Kirstin Ross, who recently conducted a review of tank water around Adelaide, said that although there was no evidence of increased gastrointestinal illness as a result of using rainwater tanks for drinking water, the microbes are present in the water.

But with many Australians without access to town water and reliant on rainwater, what precautions should we take to make sure our tank water is safe to drink?

The main bacteria that can be found in many rainwater tanks is Escherichia coli (E. coli), which is transmitted via faeces and can cause gastrointestinal illness including vomiting and diarrhoea.

Droppings from birds, possums and other animals on the roof of your house can get washed into your rainwater tank, where the bacteria grow and thrive.

The guidelines acknowledge that gastro cases are traditionally under-reported, but also say that epidemiological investigations in South Australia have failed to identify links between rainwater tanks and illness.

Associate Professor Oelgemoeller says: “There’s not much data about people getting sick from drinking rainwater. Most people have a couple of bad days and then they bounce back,” he said.

“But we shouldn’t forget that dehydration from diarrhoea is the number one killer in the undeveloped world.”

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Burst water main turns quiet suburban street into raging torrent

A quiet suburban street in Melbourne’s east was transformed by a raging torrent of muddy water after a water main burst in the early hours of Sunday morning, damaging properties and forcing residents into temporary accommodation.

Ervin Road residents described waking about 3am to the sound of “roaring water”.

One woman told Channel Nine News how she rushed downstairs to save her pets from the ankle-deep water which flowing through her home.

“The 14-year-old dog and the six-month-old puppy and the bunnies are up on the kitchen bench because they were all floating when we came down,” Kim Drew said.

Melbourne Water representatives arrived onto the scene late Sunday morning to assess the damage. Crews worked throughout the day to stem the flow of water but thousands of litres continued to gush into the street throughout the day.

Melbourne Water said the initial leak caused some damage to approximately five properties with water reaching the inside of two houses. Two gardens and a garage were also affected.

Some residents have been forced to seek temporary accommodation because of the damage to their homes.

“The whole downstairs is under water, saturated, mud, dirt it’s obviously unliveable,”
Annalisse Wolkman told Channel Seven News.

“No power, so yeah, we have to vacate.”

Residents had previously complained about leaks from the pipe with the most recent report being made on Friday.

Melbourne Water’s Craig Dixon said the pipe was assessed on Saturday after which things took a “dramatic turn”.

“The determination yesterday was that it was a very small leak, certainly nothing that was remotely going to lead to something like this was the understanding,” he said.

A Melbourne Water statement said its staff have been onsite since 3am and had worked with Yarra Valley Water to isolate the water main so that water could be transferred to another pipeline and residents could receive ongoing supply.

By Sunday evening the water main had been shut off and water flow from the burst was subsiding as the main depressurises, the statement, issued about 8.45pm, said.

“Melbourne Water staff remain onsite and water is expected stop flowing completely from the burst this evening,” it said.

“There are no health risks associated with the water being supplied from the alternative pipeline but any residents with concerns about water quality can contact Yarra Valley Water on 13 27 62.

“The wellbeing of the affected residents is very much front of mind for Melbourne Water and we have worked with those impacted to ensure they have appropriate accommodation where necessary.”

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Outrage as sprinklers water lawns in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria gardens despite the city being battered with flash flooding

Commuters were left shocked this morning when they noticed the sprinklers in one of Melbourne’s biggest parks had been turned on despite the city experiencing 17mm of rain fall over night.
The grass in Queen Victoria gardens had soaked up an historic down pour over night but the parks sprinkler system still showed up for work the next morning, giving the gardens an extra soaking.

3AW listener Michelle sent the station a picture of the sprinklers watering the already wet grass.

The sprinklers at the Queen Victoria gardens (pictured) still turned on despite heavy rainfall overnight

Over social media people debated if the sprinklers were automated or if someone ‘had too much time on their hands.’

‘Maybe the local council is still asking its people to shower with a friend so they can afford to use sprinklers regardless of the weather?!’ one wrote.

‘Lol……rain rain go away…’ wrote another user.

‘Automatic timers can’t tell the weather. So s*** happens’ added another.

A spokesperson for the The City of Melbourne told Daily Mail Australia that the sprinklers turned on due to a malfunction.

‘The City of Melbourne carries out irrigation audits, including turning on sprinkler systems, throughout winter. This ensures the irrigation systems are working efficiently and do not lay dormant prior to the peak watering season,’ they said.

‘The electronically controlled sprinkler system at Queen Victoria Gardens was turned on this morning due to a system malfunction.’

‘As a result of the malfunction this sprinkler station was activated at 7:20am. The water ran for approximately 16 minutes before being shut off.’

‘The City of Melbourne is dedicated to reducing water consumption across the municipality, since 2014 we’ve irrigated our parks and gardens using up to 25 per cent non-potable, alternative water sources including rainwater and stormwater.’

During the night flooding created chaos as the cities traffic navigated the hazardous conditions.

Two people were killed in separate crashes over night.

A motorcyclist hit a tree on the median strip of the Princes Highway at Oakleigh East.

Meanwhile, a man stepped in front of a truck, killing himself and creating a chain of events that left another motorist with serious injuries on the Monash Freeway.

Damaging winds with gusts in excess of 120 kilometres an hour continue to lash parts of the state.

Wind gusts of up to 120km/h (Mount William) have been recorded in Victoria, with 65km/h winds (Tullamarine and St Kilda) in the metropolitan area.

And there’s more to come, with Friday expected to be Melbourne’s wettest May day in six years.

The wild weather is created by a low-pressure system bringing wind, snow and low temperatures to most of south-east Australia.

Hobart also suffered a months’ worth of rain as the arctic blast swept across the country.

Cars floated down streets in the CBD, properties were evacuated and 13,000 homes were left without power as flash flooding hit the city following the record rain fall.

Hobart city recorded more than 100 millimetres of rain in a single day for the first time ever in May — doubling the previous record.

Around 13,000 homes were left without power overnight and evacuation centres have been set up across the city.

Canberra is expecting it’s coldest day in the first half of may in 48 years, with a chilling 9C predicted for the city.

Sydney also shivered through its first taste of winter on Thursday night, waking to temperatures of around 8C.

And in Brisbane the temperature is predicted to be a minimum of 9C over the weekend which is the lowest for this time of year since 2015.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Melbourne city for comment.

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