Nauru

This is a little piece on why Nauru is more problematic then the coalition OR the government are saying. 

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Nauru

Home > Country Information > Nauru

Geography Total Area 21 km2 Land 21 km2 Water 0 km2 Highest Elevation  61m Land Use Arable 0% Perm. Crop 0% Other 100% (2005) People Population 11,528 (July 2007 est.) Population Growth Rate 1.781% (2007 est.) Economy GDP per capita (PPP) $5,000 (2005 est.) Water Statistics 2,090 mm per annum

Status of Water Resources
Sources of freshwater for Nauru’s island communities are restricted to:

• Rainwater
• Imported water
• Shallow unconfined groundwater (generally within less than 2 m of the surface)
• Desalination (one large evaporative desalination plant and four small RO desalination plants).

Problems with Water Resources and Associated Environment Issues

The major issues and concerns are as follows:

• There is not a secure supply of drinking water available to maintain health and wellbeing;
• High energy input is required for the desalination plants
• There may already be over-extraction of groundwater around the Bottom side
• There is some contamination of the groundwater occurring now, even though it is the best source of future water supply
• The sustainable yield of the groundwater has not been determined (but a study is planned for the near future)
• There is a need to control the discharge of wastewater adjacent to wells used to extract non-potable water and to upgrade local sanitation practices to composting-type toilets or similar arrangements
• There is very little monitoring or information collection on water quantity and quality, and hence no strong base for future planning
• There has been very little investigation of the environmental implications of the changes in land use and water use on the island
• Droughts have a major effect on the supply of water – particularly for roof water catchments
• There is a need for improved water governance and local skills
• Land and water ownership are still to be resolved for groundwater extraction.

http://www.pacificwater.org/pages.cfm/country-information/nauru.html

And that is not the only service in trouble.

Electricity Production

http://www.indexmundi.com/nauru/electricity_production.html

Electricity Consumption

http://www.indexmundi.com/nauru/electricity_consumption.html

That is they have the capacity for 31 million kWh and they are currently using 28.83 kWh. That means they have the scope for less then 2.2kWh capacity left.

Heaps you might say. Except the current population is around 12,000. If we send them 2000 asylum seekers, then that is a 16% capacity increase. They don’t have the electricity. If the send 1000 then that is still a 8% capacity increase.

Even if they only send 500, then that is still a 4% capacity increase. Oh you say. That is fine as the 2.2 unused capacity is actually 7% of the power output of the generators. Except one thing. You never get full capacity from a generator.

You lose output transferring it using a network such as telegraph poles. Further, to be safe, Nauru actually needs to keep 10% plus in reserve so if a generator blows, another can be brought on line while it is fixed.

If you also look at the charts, you see a 30% drop in consumption at around the time Australia closed the processing centre. And the following year, when we took the generator back, they were back at capacity.

The real reason why Nauru is not an option is it puts impositions on an already struggling infrastructure. And while we can flash money at them, it is not beneficial for the nation as a whole to stress their infrastructure at capacity.

And lets not forget. Nauru has 0% arable land so Abbott wont be able to use soil carbon offsets.

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A. Ghebranious   2011  (All Rights Reserved)