Introduction to Operation OASIS

The massive waste water problem that currently pollutes our bathing waters costing £billions to process throughout the world can be used to irrigate and reforest desert coastlines to induce rainfall.

Our aim is to use the return ballast capacity of super crude carriers which currently transport sea water half way around the world at great financial and environmental cost. This ballast is discharged into the sea, often introducing invasive marine species which affects the stability of indigenous species of flora and fauna.

The E.U. is legislating against this practice and tanker operators will be forced to seek an alternative.

Operation OASIS offers an exciting opportunity for ballast water. Transporting treated waste water to irrigate and reforest arid coastlines to induce rainfall has to be the way forward.

One tanker loaded with 300000 cubic meters of treated waste water would support 57 hectares of forest for a whole year.

Reclaiming deserts to enable people to feed themselves and grow great forests will offset the carbon emissions from shipping.

With global food shortages upon us we are already feeling the strain on our pockets in the developed world and renewable resources are in rapid decline. Drought is affecting all major food producing countries and wells are running dry. Water scarcity poses major problems for us and our children. We need to act fast in order to avert a major global catastrophe.

When the mighty river Amazon dries up and it's fish stocks die it is time to take stock on how we manage our fragile environment. For more detailed information visit our website and forum at: http://www.operationoasis.com

Wednesday 14 July 2010

Drought-Stricken Aussies Forced To Drink Salt Water

Drought-Stricken Aussies Forced To Drink Salt Water
Source: http://twitter.com/ecosphericblog


In Australia, the world's driest inhabited continent, 10 years of drought has decimated fresh water supplies available on land. As a result, Aussies are turning to the salt water ocean that surrounds them for hope, but success could be costly.

Australia's five largest cities have embarked on a massive $13-billion plan to build desalination plants that can remove the salt from seawater and make it potable (Toronto Sun).

Melboure Water, a utility owned by the Victorian Government, serves a population of over 4 million people, the second most populous city in the country. The utility currently reports that their water storage supplies are at 34 percent.

To address their dwindling supply, Melboure Water has been piloting desalination feasibility experiments for over a year.

Water, water everywhere...

Some Australian residents are angry about the desalination projects, especially because they're already seeing higher utility bills as a result. Environmentalists are concerned that the plants, capable of sucking millions of gallons of seawater from the surrounding oceans every day, require too much energy, and will only accelerate climate change.

With the devastation BP's Gulf oil spill is causing on American shores, there are also concerns about whether it's actually safe to drink desalinated sea water.

Most of the Australian plants utilize reverse osmosis, a method that involves pressurization, filtration and chemical treatment at several stages of the process in order to bring the water up to Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

A sign of the times?

Just because Australia is a uniquely isolated country doesn't mean their water supply problems won't be mimicked by other nations in the future. Aussie officials are convinced that the decade-long drought was deepend by climate change, and other countries, including the United States and China, are worried that this looming threat might affect their citizens next.

"We consider ourselves the canary in the coal mine for climate change-induced changes to water supply systems," said Ross Young, executive director of the Water Services Association of Australia, told the New York Times. He described the $13.2 billion pricetag as "the cost of adapting to climate change."