Water Down Under
Australia, being the world’s driest inhabited continent and in the same time having one of the highest per capita water use, certainly knows about diminishing water resources. The Murray-Darling Basin, where half of the national water consumption takes place, only gets a few percentage of Australia's total annual runoff. In 2007, the first seawater desalination plant was built in Perth, to secure drinking water in times of draughts, and more are being built as we speak.
Groundwater accounts for more than 30 % of Australia's total water consumption, generating more than 34 billion dollars’ worth in agriculture, mining and industry. The impacts of unconventional gas and hydraulic fracturing are one of many challenges facing the Australian groundwater. The National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, based at Flinders University in Adelaide, are concerned about the development and that inhabitants seem to have entered the apathy stage, referring to the so called “hydro-illogical cycle” and its drought-awareness-concern-panic-rain-apathy stages.
The Australian National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training and The School of the Environment at Flinders University are involved in the 2015 World Water Day celebration and recommends you to do the same: “We would encourage everyone to get involved in World Water Day and to think about how each and every one of us can make a difference. Water is the most precious thing we have and we must value and protect it for the generations to come. To do that means we must understand it”!
Photo credits: Jenny Rollo
