Unpopular view #1 - Melbourne Water Crisis

[kellygirls3]

Your substance is good but presentation is, well, not good. Keep at it and take advise.

Oldie.

[TophersUnpopularView]

@kellygirls3 Thanks mate. This video is over 2 years old now. Have you seen any of the newer ones? You may find that the quality has improved somewhat since then...

[MRMILO57]

Greenies must be so pissed of with all this rain, anyone tell me-

When did you last hear a someone from the greens politcal party say, isn't it great to see the rain!

So much for the drought.

As late as 1.5 years ago, BOM were predicting continued drought into 2011/2012/2013.

10 years ago, the UK education system were telling students, in 2010 and onwards, snow will not exist in their country because of climate change....

And isn't it funny, how these people can't admitt they are wrong!

[nehpets8491]

Yep, You are exactly right with all you've said mate.. You reflect my thoughts exactly. Looking up the list of comments here... LOL @ flush out the nutrients to see... Hahahaha.. Sorry you have to deal with this kind of criticism, when putting your views.

[JesusDillinger]

Poor decisions made by government, resulting in distress among the People, make government more necessary.

The party currently in power gets thrown out but is replaced by a party that is essentially the same. Several years later the reverse happens, and the first party is back in power.

It's a shell game played by elites against the masses.

TheAlexJonesChannel

[cyclingforwater]

Please watch this!

youtube.com/watch?v=jsHG571Znr­s

[TophersUnpopularView]

Interesting concept! I wish you all the best!!!

[kcgan2010]

You must be an honours student of The Herald Sun's Andrew Bolt but far more entertaining. The reason why there's no dam planned for the Mitchell River is all due to ideology. It's the only major river in the state that's still wild and pristine. Can you imagine the fight the Govt will have with every environmental group in the country if it goes ahead? Like the Franklin Dam in Tassie. It's frankly not worth it.

[redpathcc]

funnily enough, this video and your other two actually make me feel a bit more optimistic about the future of water in the state. hopefully these sorts of challenges will be brought to the attention of PMs sooner rather than later and we can make some positive change.

[DavidEdwinCarr]

Great work Chris. There's one possibility you didn't cover regarding the desal plant; perhaps it's the precursor to Melbourne's 1st Nuclear reactor. Why? So they can win the Election after next on an emissions lowering platform.

Sigh.

[pulsedrop]

this video is very true.

BUT for people who watched only the first minute or two: Don't get the wrong impression. We all need to stop wasting so much water!

[MrJulianify]

@jhb68 and Topher - Why did the government take us off 3a? EASY - You do two things 1) You make people think they can use more water, which creates more demand and more crisis thus justifying the Desal 2) It makes them look good for the election, and if necessary (ie no rain) they will claim "thank goodnes we are building a Desal to keep our reserves higher".

[TophersUnpopularView]

Spot on Julian. In my 'Unpopular View #2' which covers the North South pipeline, I predicted this exact behavior. It seems that water is no longer an essential resource, it is a political plaything.

[anf355]

great work topher!

I will add one more thing, the govermant does not care about the farmers, its being pushed by Genitically Modified seed companys (monsanto) to push into the Aussie market, Aussie farmers refuse to grow GM but are now running out of options as GM crops are more sustainable in a drought.

[rhart49]

I love it when sane people speak the truth in a comedic twist. Great 3 videos I hope the victorian government watches these

[walshdog008]

i've been saying this for 2 years mate. finally another person with common sense is alive!

build a pipeline along major roads to east gippy. build massive deisel engines that would not be required to be on the time. a few days out from a massive rain event in gippy... turn the bloody things on and start filling! pretty simple but obviously too hard for the pollies! great stuff mate... keep it up!

[walshdog008]

mate! i have been saying this for 2 years and haven't been able to get anybody to give me a reason why it wouldn't work. the actual dam would not even have to be very large. once there was forecasted rain from 3-4 days out, you would turn the pumps on and start pushing as much water as possible into melbourne. dropping the storage would further help the chances of a flood. the infrastructure would be simple.... cont.

[bilbyears]

Why are there blue green algae outbreaks in Gippsland lakes? Not enough flushing of them through flood waters because we dammed the Thompson. The Mitchell is a beautiful river valley which includes a sacred Aboriginal site, the Den of Nargun.. Have you ever been there? You wouldn't want to drown it if you had.

Recycled water is the solution for Melbourne. Not this shooting from the hip high horse diatribe presented here

[TophersUnpopularView]

"Shooting from the hip high horse diatribe..." Very eloquent.

Why are there blue green algae outbreaks in the Gippsland lakes? Actually it has far more to do with the fertilizers / nitrogen soil treatments which farmers are using and spraying, which run into the many rivers in the area, gather in the gippsland lakes and create an ideal breeding environment for algae. The same goes for the Murray river. It's not the lack of water, its the abundance of Nitrogen and fertilizers... (TBC)

[RanchoFletcherosa]

@TophersUnpopularView

I remember hearing something about sarcasm and it being the lowest form of wit. Nice to see you're anti-farmer Topher. You either have to take away the farmers or let the rivers flush out the nutrients to see. Mind you if you want to drive farmers off the land, the fact that the land will regrow with trees will mean less runoff for your ill-conceived dam.

[TophersUnpopularView]

G'day Rancho, I'm afraid you've misunderstood.

The dam will help the lakes because of reduced FLOODING, because the flood water carries nutrient rich (and fertilized) topsoil into the lakes. By controlling the flow and stopping the river from breaking its banks we can reduce this dramatically, WITHOUT taking ANYTHING from the farmers.

Further, the dam can ensure environmental flows for the lakes year round and irrigation for farmers as well, provided the rainfall is there.

All the best.

[TophersUnpopularView]

... relative to the flow of water that triggers the outbreaks.

Also, the Den of Nargun does not need to be drowned for the dam. I personally advocate off-stream dams (such as the Sugarloaf reservior, which is fed from the Yerreng Gorge pumping station on the Yarra) which do not interrupt the continuous flow of the river, and have far less impact on the river eco system.

I've done far more research than I could put in a 7 minute Doco, and I haven't heard a solid counter argument yet.

[jhb68]

I have been working up at the Winiki treatment plant upgrade at Sugarloaf. All I have heard about the upgrade there is that the government will take the water restriction off just before the election......

Love your work Topher

[chadstone100]

Thank you Topher for presenting such a compelling argument. You're right...fuly agree and November gives the Government a chance to listen to the wishes of the people, albeit a little late..I have posed it to my Facebook page (and also to a couple of media people I know) and here's hoping you get some traction... All the best, Ronnie

[TophersUnpopularView]

Thanks Ronnie!

[cubicspacedivision]

Topher - Funny, yet deadly serious at the same time. I thoroughly enjoyed your videos and I totally agree.

Why are we spending billions on DeSal when there are so many better and far cheaper options?

Great work.

[janjaso]

I agree with what u say here, but thing is, rivers and lakes, DRY UP. it is not infinite water supply. the murry is gone already. a 'DE-SAL' plant WILL LAST FOREVER, 2/3 of the world is ocean! greenhouse gas? pollution? well we are technically LOWERING the ocean level by sucking the water out, so its fine. I find it funny how stupid aussies are, we are surrounded by ocean, yet bleed our rivers dry like idiots. building a dam will just bleed the river dry in the future. maybe 50 years? maybe 10

[TophersUnpopularView]

Rain is NATURAL desalination... only it's 100% environmentally friendly with 100% renewable energy... ie the sun.

Our rivers and lakes have not dried up... they are being over-harvested. They are dry because we have sucked all the water out of them.

New dams in new catchments will spread this load. We use less than 6% of the water which falls in the Otway ranges, for instance.

Why build our own desalination plant when nature is already doing the job for us?

[janjaso]

im sure thats what they said 20 years ago, and thats why it took 10 years for the govt. to take action because they relied on rain filling things up, well populations will rise insanely soon, and those rivers will all dry up they simply cant afford to cover such a vast area...australia is not a giant tropical rainforest, half is desert, dams might work for 50 years, but well end up with more dry rivers like murray river (which used to be good fishing) and same situation again.

[janjaso]

renewable means 'replaced by natural process at a rate comparable or faster than human consumption' harvesting rain in a region is like trying to gather all the sunlight that hits that region and keeping it in permanent darkness, its not viable. dam= 50milion population (future) will be less n less full per year(diminishing output) and will go dry(inevitable) 100milion population = even more go dry DESAL = 2/3 earth supply size(~infinite) 410ML/day output 100% of the time non-diminishing output.

[TophersUnpopularView]

You are missing the point.

We have not yet reached the point where rainfall runoff is insufficient. We use a small percentage of the rainfall which IS available, most of it runs out to sea... so why are we spending so much money on desal while better options are still available?

Yes when the day comes that we are ACTUALLY making good use of all the naturally available resources then we can look at destructive alternatives such as desal.

We are nowhere near that now.

[Teslaidealist]

What about all the water in QLD ( Tropical ) can't we some how put that into the Darling river to ease supply to SA ? Or am I the only one that thinks of AUS as one country ? Topher, spot on. janjaso, try to live off a tank supply like the rest of those farmers!

[rhart49]

@Teslaidealist That's the thing is though Queensland oare on water restrictions too. There are more rivers and creeks in QLD that flood the exact same as these Victorian regions yet the Qld government does nothing as well. I say that the ENTIRE government need to grow a pair and fund some water alteratives instead of funding roofing and education when water is by far a much larger issue

[WestUNIT23]

HOLY SHIT DUDE!

get ur message out!!!

finally some common sense, you make some very nice arguments and i just wish the entirety of Australia could hear what you have to say.

*applauds*

[DaSilvaBullet11]

,ssssssssssssssooooooooo true

[Reoh0z]

Politics isn't about making the right choice for the country/region, its about making the right choice for their business partner...erm I mean donators, erm I mean representing their voters interests.

[kindbluey]

To The General Public-Smell the roses Please!!!

[979708]

'Unpopular  View' is right. That's why it needs to be said.

[kindbluey]

Our Idiot Governments only think of the hip pocket,not ever thinking of the logical. Useless pathetic twits. This dam building project should be reinforced immediatly,cease the Desalination plant,start building the wall across the mitchell River. Desalination plant will cost a FORTUNE to operate!!!!! A dam costs Billions less to build & 100's of $ millions less to operate! To Kevin Rudd & John Brumby - Wake Up & Smell the Roses! Stop thinking about syphoning money from the general public!

[leonmayer]

Topher for water minister! Finally some common sense, the pipeline to Bendigo was bad enough. Stealing a resource from people who are trying to grow our food,so that we can eat Aussie grown tucker not broccoli from China. London's recycled water is great, we didn't even realise it was recycled till it was pointed out to us by our guide. Surely the jobs that would be created by the building of a dam would help as well. Hopefully someone in the Libs/Nats will see this and a light bulb will go on

[YuesWoman]

Fantastic video. Couldn't agree with you more. I loved that the whole thing was filmed on locasion too.

[AUSTFireme]

Fantastic and IMO a 'popular' view... now we just gotta get someone from Labour to view this..... and you 2nd unpopular view - which is as every bit as good as this one!! :)

[staceyjoans]

Great presentation.

As one of the many locals having the desal plant forced upon us effecting our local fishing, eco systems, recreations, surfing, boating, farming in fact you name it, none of us are amused.. We are having our beautiful coastline devastated for no sensible reason. The budget is now rumoured to be in excess of 5 billion and grossly over budget.. all this and the foundation is not yet in place.

Now thats clever.

[QueenieAlexander2000]

First part of my post: The Mitchell River is the largest, un-regulated river in Victoria, free of barriers, with few diversions and with its natural flow regime largely unchanged. It remains well forested, which is one of the reasons that it remains healthy and the catchment retains rainfall. The large-scale biological systems are intact. Everywhere else in Victoria where rivers have been regulated and barriers have been installed has become a disaster.

[TophersUnpopularView]

A dam on a river has little to no impact on the eco system upstream. We have naturally occuring dams on rivers all over the world... we call them 'Lakes'... and I don't see you campaigning against THOSE...

I appreciate your concern for the environment, but Dams are not the environmental disaster you have been led to believe. They are certainly better than desalination, particularly when you consider the extra power generation we will now require to power the desal plant.

[kev4160]

Well,from over here in Blighty,you seem very switched on.Your argument is very well presented and concise.We let enough water go down the gurgler every year to finance the national debt.Three times over.Water is now a political weapon.Oil is old hat,get ready for the next phase.

[Bearbrass]

Top effort. Many more, please, Topher - and not just on water.

But this terrible government will be re-elected if Ted Baillieu remains (occasionally) at the helm of the Opposition.

[itzakos]

It's great

[liberann]

Given the ALP's abhorrence of new dams, we might logically expect them to develop a similar attitude to our existing dams. Do they intend to demolish them - perhaps set up new National Parks instead. We should ask them: if not why not? OR if so, can they give us their projected timetable for implementation of such a scheme.

[MrSavalicious]

Great vid Chris, you've summed up what the majority of clear thinking Victorians have been gnashing their teeth over since the announcement of the desal plant. With so many factors in favour of a dam, and so many negatives to a desal plant, it's almost naive to think the decision is driven solely by a desire to be "green" (which, as pointed out, it is far from being).

With $3 bilion being distributed surely some peoples pockets are being lined, and perhaps well paid positions for "retirees".

[RippinRutman]

Absolutely SENSATIONAL!!!!

He couldnt make his point any clearer!

Whats going to happen after Global Warming.....

Oh hang on NOTHING

[ThatEbonyChick1]

Brilliant!!

[gertygolf]

Fantastic video!! This is what really winds me up about government... these absolute bullshit ideas that spring to there head and they pounce on with out giviing SERIOUS thought and consideration. Good on you Tophers. Maybe your next video could be about the lack of Solar technoloogy used in Australia yet Australia being one of the biggest supplliers of Solar technology to other countries!

[DisherB]

Nice work Topher... will point a few people over to have a sqiz.

You have plenty of material to choose from, I guess Brumby is good for something after all...

[chuckp61]

Well said that man...anyone want to vote for a left wing/green govt again?

Only morons would.

[hangarharry]

Australia has never and does not now have a shortage of water.

What it has developed thanks to radical green environmental political policies is a crisis of supply.

[orangewilliam]

There was land set aside on the Mitchell for a dam, the green religious zealot Thwaites turned it into national park.

The inarticulate droob Bracks stood by while he did it.

Any wonder the ALP is hated in Gippsland.

[orangewilliam]

There was land set aside on the Mitchell to build a dam.

That green religious fuck wit John Thwaites oversaw the conversion of that land into a national park, locking it away permanently.

Melbourne has a water storage system as bad as Zimbabwe because of the kooky religious beliefs of one green zealot and the piss weak "leadership" of that inarticulate droob Bracks who allowed it to happen.

[leguardo]

Topher.....just sensational. What a succinct, clear and intelligent video. If anyone has John Brumby's email address, PLEASE, PLEASE forward this onto him. Common sense, please come home....all is forgiven

[Ev630]

Excellent.

[tinkatailor]

Toper for Prime Minister... Well definitely Minster for Water anyway!!!!

[littleskepticspress]

totally agree with you

[KalElTheGreat]

well done chris.

[bitzawood]

i agree with you all the way

its time all goverments stop thinking

with there asses and start thinking with

there heads

you should join the goverment you'll have my vote