Part II
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Water, recycling, and the environment dominated this year's Local Government New South Wales conference in Sydney, Cr Debra O'Brien said. (For the first part of this story, see here.)
These concerns, she said, were most evident in the conference resolving to declare a climate emergency - pushing the state government to join more than 900 government agencies taking clear, effective steps to avert a climate crisis.
The motion was fiercely debated, and won by a whisker: 51 to 49.
"There was a heap of climate change deniers in the room," Cr Margaret O'Connor said.
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The LGNSW board proposed that the state government develop and fund an emergency water security plan to address the immediate water supply crisis afflicting NSW towns and communities, and a disaster recovery plan for when drought breaks.
They also proposed long-term (30 to 40 year) water supply strategies for catchments throughout NSW to mitigate the risks from future droughts and climate change to grow and sustain the population and economy.
These strategies should feature storm water harvesting, reuse and recycling, and demand management initiatives, and could include ambitious infrastructure projects on the scale of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.
"The focus on water security is very important for our area," Cr O'Brien said. "We shouldn't wait until we're in an urgent situation, but actually make it part and parcel of our permanent situation."
Drought, she believes, may become a more common feature of our environment, and the New South Wales government should take responsibility and assist with long-term planning.
Uralla Shire Council also proposed that the LGNSW lobby the state and federal governments to financially assist communities to deal with the effects of drought locally; set funding aside for drought recovery; and appoint recovery co-ordinators to facilitate drought recovery.
Local councils also want the government to invest money from their waste levy to fix waste and recycling, and build a circular economy.
The waste levy is meant to promote recycling and discourage landfills - but less than a fifth of this revenue goes back into waste and recycling programs, the LGNSW said.
A 2017/18 report also shows that household recycling rates are decreasing, while more waste is going to landfills.
"Without serious recycling, if we move into a drier and hotter climate here, we just aren't viable," Cr O'Connor said.
"They're still banging on about how they're going to turn Guyra into the Ruhr Valley of horticulture. We don't have the water for that, but recycling changes that; it also changes the cost benefit for those people."