Winter sprinkler bans to become permanent

Sprinklers will be permanently switched off during winter from next year after the State Government today to retain this year’s trial sprinkler ban.

Yesterday’s decision follows a two-month trial ban during July and August, which Water Minister Graham Jacobs said saved about 2.2 billion litres of water, equivalent to filling 880 Olympic-sized pools and enough to supply towns the size of Manjimup or Collie for a year.

The permanent ban will apply from June 1 to August 31.

 The trial ban – for most scheme users south of Kalbarri – was introduced after water usage earlier this winter was running at 800 million litres a day, 300 million litres above average.

Dr Jacobs said today that the ban saved 50 million litres a day, while an independent survey last month indicated 93 per cent of residents supported the move.

“This is an outstanding community achievement because while there has been reasonably consistent rain, we are still well below the long-term annual rainfall average,” Dr Jacobs said

Dams were now at 45.5 per cent of capacity, their second-highest level this decade. They are holding 19 per cent more water than the same time last year.

Water Corporation figures show rainfall in all but one of the catchments for dams supplying Perth are below their historical averages for the year-to-date.

Dr Jacobs said the exact area of the permanent ban, and any adverse impact for industry and local government users would still have to be worked out.

This would occur “soon”, and some areas that took part in the trial ban – which ran from Kalbarri to Esperance and east to Kalgoorlie-Boulder – could have a case to be excluded.

These users were asked to voluntarily stop using bores during the two-month ban period, while garden bore users were allowed to turn them on for maintenance reasons.

“A lot of people say garden bores are not pulling on the scheme, but we all realise our underground water resources are all related,” Dr Jacobs said last month.

Source  :  www.watoday.com.au

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Central TAFE signs up for e-mail at last

One of WA’s largest educational institutions has moved its students into the digital age.

East Perth-based Central TAFE is about to roll out its first student e-mail service, after signing a deal with Microsoft.

The TAFE will offer its 15,000 students the software giant’s Live@Edu application, after trialling it with about 500 of them.

It follows a nine-month process which began when WA TAFE’s issued a tender for the supply of student e-mail services. Microsoft was awarded the tender last month.

Central TAFE managing director Neil Fernandes said Live@Edu would offer “connectivity and collaboration right across our campuses”.

Other WA TAFE’s – who have about 120,000 students between them – are watching Central’s pilot program. Live@Edu offers 10GB-capacity mailboxes and the potential to send and receive 20MB attachments.

Source  :  www.watoday.com.au

Read Full Post »

A remote control can make life easier

Transform your home with the latest technology available through smart wiring, reports amanda rankin.

AS the name suggests, smart wiring is an intelligent integration of technology that can transform a home into a fully automated environment where the homeowner can control everything, with the touch of a button.

For those who have trouble programing the DVD player this may sound scary but fortunately, this one-touch button is on a remote control.

A remote control is specifically for people who don’t have the foggiest about electronics and just want to know which button to push, and when.

Intelligent Home is a Western Australian company with a team of skilled professionals who can install these intelligent systems and supply the homeowner with one fabulous remote that controls the lighting, the intercom, the telephone, the DVD player, Pay TV, CD, CCTV and other necessary abbreviations.

“The remotes are the secret to having a good experience with smart wiring,” Intelligent Home’s director Brenton Morris said.

“We recommend the remotes highly because anybody can use them.

“That’s our job at Intelligent Home, to set up these complicated systems and ensure that the end result is something that is easy for everyone to use.”

Intelligent Home predominantly deals with trade, and the building companies send the clients in to find out all about smart wiring at the very early stages of the project, usually well before the building process has even started. “We explain smart wiring, which is the data, the television, the Foxtel, the telecommunications and so forth, then we go through security, home theatre, multi-room audio, CCTV, intercom and lighting control, and once we’ve explained all of that to the client, we sit down and do a design with them,” Brenton said.

Depending on the client’s budget and personal requirements, the end result can be a high-tech home wired for sound, TV, security, telecommunications and lighting, all controlled from a central location and ready to face the technology of tomorrow.                                                                         

It sounds fabulous and it is, but what happens when some-thing goes wrong ?

“I’ve been working in electronics since I was 17 years old and things do mess up,” Brenton said.                                     

“We have a service division ready to handle any problems and we send the guys out and they fix the problem.

“We also handpick our electronics and one of the big things we go for is reliability.

“A lot of the products we sell are custom-made and are designed to integrate properly into the house and be reliable.”

 

www.inmycommunity.com.au

Read Full Post »