Green Infrastructure Social Sciences Essay Research (Essay Sample)

Green Infrastructure
Name:
Institutional Affiliations:
Wastewater RecyclingWater Plant in Eglinton, Perth
A large portion of treated water is disposed of in oceans annually; thus, it is a great opportunity for re-purposing or rather recycling the water waste achieved through purification facilities. In Australia, water management projects include wastewater treatment plants, dams and desalination plants. Other projects include those focused on mitigating floods, harvest stormwater and support local biodiversity. There is an urgent need to replace as well as upgrade the damaged infrastructure due to the escalating needs of the growing population and the effects of climate change. Economic performance intermingles with both water infrastructure and climate change. The increasing water demand in the cities has exceeded the country’s capacity to rely on rainfall water for domestic, agricultural and industrial usage. Over the past years, the country has continuously experienced inadequate rainfall supply. Due to these challenges, the government has highlighted the necessity to have a resilient as well as a reliable water infrastructure to respond to issues such as drought and flooding. Cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Canberra have faced water challenges while Perth and Adelaide are the most affected cities. The water storage levels in these cities differ from one another with Melbourne accounting for 69.7% while Perth accounts for 40.4% which is the lowest level in all cities (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). The reason behind the low water storage in Perth is due to catchment runoff into the city’s dams and low rainfall. Another factor is the Millennium Drought which significantly escalated water supply problems in all Australian cities. The city has responded to these challenges by Desalination and groundwater. Although there are two desalination plants, there is a need to diversify to wastewater recycling water plant to increase the city’s water capacity.