The harsh realities of and potential solutions to Sydney's water crisis were sharply outlined to more than 280 guests at a UTS public lecture and panel discussion last week..

Five UTS water, sustainability and environmental science experts and the CEO of the Australian Water Association addressed issues of water infrastructure planning, ground water supplies, water ecology, sustainability and recycling.

Moderated by Sydney Morning Herald Environment reporter Wendy Frew, the presentations sent a clear message that major infrastructure projects such as dams and desalination plants were not silver bullet solutions or necessarily the best way to respond to water shortage and the drought.

One of the experts who undertook the 2006 Review of the Metropolitan Water Plan, which led to a shelving of the planned construction of a desalination plant at Kurnell in February 2006, questioned the intentions of the Iemma Government to now proceed with the project.

Professor Stuart White, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS, said the government had accepted advice that the project should only proceed as a last resort drought response measure, to be initiated in the unlikely circumstances that Sydney's storages dropped to 30%.

He also said that the introduction of many and varied programs and processes which enable greater efficiency in water use by business and the community would produce low-cost water savings and exceed the volume of water that could be derived through expensive infrastructure projects.

Head of UTS institute for water and environmental Resource Management, Professor Tally Palmer, said more was required of the community than just getting over the "yuck factor" of recycled water use. She said two other yuck factors were seriously hampering the nation's ability to respond effectively to the water crisis - the yuck factor of "I don't want to know about it" and the yuck factor of "I don't want to have to make any lifestyle changes or show restraint or suffer any interruption to my water supply".

She said the community must adopt a broader view of the role that water must play in the environment and that minimum flows were needed in rivers, ground water, wetlands and lakes to ensure that the ecosystems they sustain remain intact lest we suffer far more in the future.

The UTSpeaks public lecture series confronts important contemporary issues facing Australia and provides a forum for community debate. Details of this and past lectures along with powerpoint presentations and recordings of lectures can be found at http://www.uts.edu.au/new/speaks.