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Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Leo Simpson, B.Bus. Editor Greg Swain, B.Sc.(Hons.) PUBLISHER'S LETTER Technical Staff John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.) Robert Flynn When you waste water, you waste electricity too Reader Services Ann Jenkinson By the time you read this, perhaps the drought which has affected so much of eastern Australia will have begun to break. Let us hope so. If you live in the city, the drought probably has not affected you much and you may be sick of hearing about the need to conserve water. But there is another aspect to water usage that you never hear about in the media and that is the huge amount of energy required to bring the water to us. Advertising Enquiries Leo Simpson Phone (02) 979 5644 Regular Contributors Brendan Akhurst Garry Cratt, VK2YBX Marque Crozman, VK2ZLZ Julian Edgar, Dip.T.(Sec.), B.Ed John Hill Jim Lawler, MTETIA Philip Watson, MIREE, VK2ZPW Jim Yalden, VK2YGY Bob Young Photography Stuart Bryce Forgetting for a moment the enormous investment in dams, pipelines and reservoirs, think about all the pumps which are needed to bring the water to your kitchen and bathroom taps. Again, if you live in a major city, the chances are that your water has been pumped though hundreds and maybe even thousands of kilometres of piping. Pumps use a lot of electricity, as anyone who has a swimming pool will be well aware of. SILICON CHIP is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. A.C.N. 003 205 490. All material copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. As well as the need for pumping and filtering, the water supply needs chlorine added to it to kill bacteria and algae. When you consider the overall consumption of water in Australia, the amount of chlorine required is huge. Where does all that chlorine come from? It is produced by the electrolytic dissocia­tion of common salt, sodium chloride, and again, this consumes lots of electricity. Some of that chlorine injected into the water supply eventually ends up in the upper atmosphere where it plays havoc with the ozone layer. Printing: Macquarie Print, Dubbo, NSW. After you have used the water, most of it goes into the sewers and again it must be pumped to sewage plants for treat­ment. Much of that treatment involves lots of pumps and inevi­tably, it involves further chlorination. After that, the waste water it is pumped into rivers or the sea. So while you don’t think about it, the biggest cost of water is the charge for electricity in processing and transporting it to you and then taking the waste water away. Distribution: Network Distribution Company. Subscription rates: $49 per year in Australia. For overseas rates, see the subscription page in this issue. Editorial & advertising offices: Unit 34, 1-3 Jubilee Avenue, Warrie­ wood, NSW 2102. Postal address: PO Box 139, Collaroy Beach, NSW 2097. Phone (02) 979 5644. Fax (02) 979 6503. That means that even if Australia had plentiful supplies of water, we should not waste it because so much electricity is required to bring it to us. Most of that electricity will have been generated by coal burning power stations. Inevitably, when you have a glass of water, you are consuming coal, or oil, or natural gas. Think about that next time you turn on a tap. Leo Simpson ISSN 1030-2662 WARNING! SILICON CHIP magazine regularly describes projects which employ a mains power supply or produce high voltage. All such projects should be considered dangerous or even lethal if not used safely. Readers are warned that high voltage wiring should be carried out according to the instructions in the articles. When working on these projects use extreme care to ensure that you do not accidentally come into contact with mains AC voltages or high voltage DC. If you are not confident about working with projects employing mains voltages or other high voltages, you are advised not to attempt work on them. Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd disclaims any liability for damages should anyone be killed or injured while working on a project or circuit described in any issue of SILICON CHIP magazine. Devices or circuits described in SILICON CHIP may be covered by patents. SILICON CHIP disclaims any liability for the infringement of such patents by the manufacturing or selling of any such equipment. SILICON CHIP also disclaims any liability for projects which are used in such a way as to infringe relevant government regulations and by-laws. Advertisers are warned that they are responsible for the content of all advertisements and that they must conform to the Trade Practices Act 1974 or as subsequently amended and to any governmental regulations which are applicable. 2  Silicon Chip