http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/NSW-Democrats-launch-election-campaign/2007/03/03/1172868803341.html

The NSW Democrats believe in spending money on the "little end of town" to tackle the big issues of energy and water.

Rather than invest millions of taxpayer dollars in building new coal-fired power stations to meet increasing energy demand, Dr Chesterfield-Evans would prefer to encourage individuals to install solar collectors on their roofs by making it economically attractive to do so.

"All you have to do is set the price, you don't have to administer some elaborate scheme," Dr Chesterfield-Evans said.

Such a system would lead to fewer blackouts on the hottest, and sunniest, days when demand was highest due to the diversified generation from so many different areas, he said.

Using the same model of thinking small, the NSW Democrats offer an alternative solution to Sydney's water shortage.

Dr Chesterfield-Evans said funds earmarked for the desalination plant could instead be diverted into modifying individual houses.

"At the moment it's a war between the pro-desalination lobby and the pro-sewage treatment lobby, when you boil that down it's really two corporations, one backed by Labor, one by the Coalition," Dr Chesterfield-Evans said.

"Neither is saying what about the other solution, which is to support the little people's recycling."

Deregulation of the sale of water and restriction of the input of toxins, such as urinal cleaning blocks, into the water supply would also help, he said.

"There's a lack of an overall concept - (the current mentality is to) spend a lot of dollars on the big end of town and hope they'll solve the problem," Dr Chesterfield-Evans said.

Too right. Australia doesn't have a water shortage problem, it has a water capture problem. What happened to all the rainwater tanks people used to have? We were probably more energy efficient during the 50s than we are now.

I do see a problem here, though. Less than 10% of Australia's water usage is residential. The largest user is agriculture. And rain patterns have moved from traditional farming districts. But saying that, there are huge improvements that can be made in agricultural practices to reduce water usage.

I do see a problem here, though. Less than 10% of Australia's water usage is residential.

But not in the cities where the water shortages are. Obviously you can make that argument for Adelaide, but not the other capitals.

http://news.smh.com.au/democrats-urge-user-pays-water-system/20080311-1ylo.html

The Australian Democrats want an end to domestic water restrictions in Adelaide but say the price of water should be hiked to make those who use more, pay more.

South Australian Democrat MP Sandra Kanck said with Adelaide sweltering through a record heatwave, it was clear there was no short-term relief from the state's water woes.

"At the present time those who have traditionally grown their own fruit and veggies are the ones who pay the price, while those who waste water in spas and pools have no penalty," Ms Kanck said.

"Our crazy system of water restrictions lets people shower all day, but condemns some of our trees to die.

"If we get rid of the restrictions and put in a water pricing system that penalises the profligate users we could save on water policing and simply make the users pay."

Under Adelaide's current restrictions, gardens can only be watered for three hours, one day each week and then only with drippers, a hand-held hose or buckets.

Sprinklers are banned at all times but there are no restrictions on water use inside the home.