Can Calabasas Learn From Australia's Drought?

Australia is in the midst of the Millennium Drought that has reached across their land since the beginning of 2001.

Many leaders of Australia are viewing the drought as something permanent due to the changes within the climate and are quite aggressive with their response. Their successes and failures could serve as a guide to California, where we are facing a serious drought as well.

There are similar solutions being used throughout California as they are using in Australia including desalination, dams and diversions of rivers, and wastewater recycling.

In Australia the work they’ve done has become sweeping whether it’s rationing water or placing new plumbing to pull in rainwater from catchments. The country has also begun buying back water and rewriting water laws for agriculture users.

In addition, they’ve also instituted a system similar to “cap and trade” which provides economic incentives for those saving more water and extra costs for those who don’t.

Farmers who once grew cotton are now selling the water supplies that they’d use to other localized farmers that grow more important items such as fruits and vegetables.

Other Australian measures have been instituted under Campaign 140, which encourages residents to reduce their daily water usage to approximately 36 gallons each day. Shorten showers, local recapture systems and new toilets, faucets, and various plumbing items have all heped to minimize water usage

Perhaps the primary reason driving conservation? Money.

In some Australian areas, the cost of water has risen to over AUS $1.20 in per kiloliter making the use of large amounts of water quite costly.

There have been water sources developed that are cheap but they are not entirely reliable through this ever changing climate which is why many residents are opting into the more expensive options in hope to save more money in the end. Water is becoming a hard thing to come by across Australia and may be a preview of the future in California if conditions remain.