LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Sir – With funding from the NT Governments’ Immediate Grants programme the Hamilton Downs Youth Camp has recently undertaken a major upgrade to the solar power system and to the bore water supply and water treatment.
These upgrades will maintain the camp’s policy of using solar power for the pumping of water from the bore in Jay Creek, and its treatment in a highly automated unit powered by the upgraded solar unit.
The funding has provided an increase in the solar collection and battery storage to about 12 kva – almost double the capacity of the original installation in 1996.
The latest computer-controlled treatment has raised the capacity to 5000 litres of drinking water a day. Ultra violet treatment ensures the water is free of bacteria.
The camp provides the highest health and facility standards for guests – primarily school and youth groups.
The treated water is of a better chemical quality than that of Alice Springs or of other major centres in the NT and certainly the only visitor accommodation that sets these standards.
Both projects were delivered by Alice Springs contractors.
Ren Kelly
Chairman, Hamilton Downs Youth Camp Association Inc.
Friday, April 19, 2024
The freedom of the press still furnishes that check upon government which no constitution has ever been able to provide – Chicago Tribune.
The smaller perched aquifers and springs scattered through the Central Australian ranges have some of the best quality water in the world.
Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs) is one that “springs” to mind as incredibly soft and pure.
It’s a pity that water is so heavy to transport, but, perhaps with better understanding and acknowledgement of custodianship of these universally sacred sites, and with some hyped-up marketing loosely based around that history, as well as clever logistical back-loading, a niche export industry could emerge.
At the present time though, just identifying and protecting smaller water sources, let alone better understanding water chemistry and sustainable yield, remains a challenge.