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How To Address Your (Water) Sensitivity
As I monitor the daily flow (pardon the pun) of water-industry news, product launches, and initiatives for special coverage on Water Online and in Water Innovations, a basic investigative question is “Who is this intended for?” When the opportunity arose to interview Gemma Dunn, the integrated water management service line coordinator with GHD North America, about GHD’s new Water Sensitive Cities Index, I soon came to a new question:
What city isn’t water sensitive?
If water scarcity isn’t an issue, due to drought, population growth, and overdrawing or contamination of source water, then flooding and sewer overflow the result of old infrastructure and increasingly frequent extreme weather events are likely concerns. In the U.S., at least, you would be in the minority if you are not experiencing one or the other, and sometimes both (see Texas). Elsewhere, cities and communities of all types are dealing with the degradation of on
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Coal mining companies in the Hunter Valley have failed to set aside enough money to fill in their massive voids or maintain the vegetation required to restore the landscape once their mines come to the end of their lives.
Japanese trading giant Idemitsu has fallen well short in its efforts to replant pasture and woodlands on its Muswellbrook Coal mine in the Upper Hunter, with insufficient topsoil and a poor choice of species being replanted, a report obtained by the
Herald shows.
BHPâs Mt Arthur coal mine near Muswellbrook has one of the largest voids in the Hunter Valley.
Recent flooding in the Sydney Basin pushed thousands from their homes and left others facing enormous insurance costs.
These events show how traumatic and costly it can be to live in areas vulnerable to disaster. Too often, socio-economically disadvantaged populations are disproportionately affected.
Some flood dangers, however, can be far less visible – to planners, developers and home-buyers. Sometimes, the danger comes from groundwater beneath the surface.
Earlier this year, for example, residents of the New South Wales town of Stuarts Point were evacuated and decontaminated after sewage spilled into their streets, as septic tanks filled with shallow groundwater.
These problems are not inevitable. Our recent report shows how changes to urban planning, building design and construction practices could reduce groundwater risks. That means better outcomes for residents, developers, governments and the environment.
AusBiotech appoints new director, Dr James Campbell miragenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from miragenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.