|
Across the Ditch: Water Shortages in Australia – Raelene Hall
Australia is the driest inhabited continent in the world. It’s annual rainfall only averages 455 mm. Its evapotranspiration (the water removed from our soils by soil evaporation and plant transpiration) rates means it has just 11% runoff and only 1% groundwater recharge from average rainfall. In world terms Australia has only 1% of the global river runoff even though it has about 5% of the world’s land area. Despite this Australians use more than 1 million liters of fresh water per person (2000 figures), with agriculture being the biggest user, followed by households. More people are using dishwashers, and automatic washing machines and have 2 or more toilets and showers in their house, all requiring water.
Obviously then the conservation of water in Australia is of vital importance and it is a topic which engenders enormous discussion, debate and sometimes, heated arguments between those who control water and those needing to use water. Australia is made up of 6 states and 2 territories and each of these has responsibility for its own water resources so it is a complex issue to look at in an overall context.
Challenges in the years ahead for Australia center around the wise management of this most precious resource in a number of ways including equitable distribution of water, efficient water use in agricultural enterprises, developing a more effective water delivery system and maintaining and improving water quality.
Drought is a fact of life in Australia so in terms of agriculture it is necessary to make provisions to cope with these dry times by using sustainable agricultural practices, growing crops suited to the climate and rainfall of an area and finding ways to recycle water.
The CSIRO is Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and is one of the world’s largest and most diverse research institutions. They are working in many areas with regards to water in Australia including: water allocation and quality, urban water re-use, land use options, environmental/contaminants, salinity and sustainable tropics.
Their goal is ‘to develop economically and socially responsible land and water management strategies, based on rigorous biophysical research. To achieve viable outcomes, we recognise that our science needs to be strongly integrated with social and economic factors.’ http://www.clw.csiro.au/priorities/
The CSIRO believe we must move away from the notion of drought proofing Australia, instead we must accept that drought is a natural and inevitable feature of the Australian physical environment. Therefore, in terms of agriculture, which is the biggest user of water in Australia, we need to look at ways to conserve and improve water efficiency. This includes methods such as research into varieties of crops that require less water to grow, preventing loss of water through evaporation, transpiration and seepage and management strategies to ensure crops only receive as much water as they can take up.
The Governments of Australia, both States/Territory and Federal, are far more in tune, in the 21st century, with the need to conserve and sustain our water supplies, as are the people of Australia. As Australia’s population continues to grow, particularly in the coastal areas, the demands on water supplies will continue to increase. It is becoming very obvious that permanent solutions need to be found, not band-aid remedies that only help in the short term.
Water management in Australia is made particularly difficult by the fact that rainfall is extremely varied in both time and place, which makes it almost impossible to use averages as viable indicators. Dams in Australia need to be double the size of world average climatic conditions, and six times the capacity of European dams. Ironically some of the best water supplies in Australia are in the far north of the country and on the west coast of Tasmania, both far from centers of population and agriculture.
For many years there have been disagreements in Australia, between States/Territories who share water resources, between State/Territory Governments and the Federal Government and between landowners and conservationists.
An example is the conflict between Queensland and New South Wales, with NSW graziers complaining they are not getting their full share of water because it is being directed to cotton irrigators in Queensland, whilst Qld retorts that NSW should be concentrating on sorting out water problems in their own back yard first. Cubbie Station, close to the Qld/NSW border, is one of the world’s largest cotton farms and its dams hold more water than the Sydney Harbour. The NSW graziers rely on the floodwaters from rivers like the Condamine-Balonne and other Outback rivers. With properties, like Cubbie Station, further upstream diverting water by means of channels and pumping water from the river the floodwaters reaching other lower properties are vastly reduced.
On 29 August 2003 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to develop a National Water Initiative (NWI) to increase the productivity and efficiency of Australia’s water use and to ensure the health of its rivers and waterways. Two states, WA and Tasmania, did not sign the agreement. WA Premier Geoff Gallop felt it had no value for the people of his State, whilst the Tasmanian Government felt that they were already meeting the requirements of the NWI.
The Australian Parliament, on 9 December 2004, passed the National Water Commission Bill. The commission will be an independent statutory body to oversee and promote the work of the NWI. Whilst this is meant to be a way of Commonwealth and States working together on water reforms there continues to be disagreements over the role of the body and the way its funding is distributed. The Australian Conservation Foundation believes the National Water Commission, whilst a step in the right direction, hasn’t made enough of a commitment to a time frame and funds to restore Australia’s rivers to a healthy condition.
The damming of rivers is another issue that has caused much controversy in Australia over many years. The Snowy River Hydro Electricity Scheme was built over a 25-year period, from 1949 to 1975, to provide electricity and irrigation to parts of NSW, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory. The diversion of the water has had a huge impact on the nature of many rivers in the area, including its namesake the Snowy River. Following a Government inquiry in 2000 recommendations have been made about ways to increase the environment flow and in 2002 the first waters were released back into the Snowy River. The ultimate object of the plan is to boost the Snowy River’s flow back to 28% of its original level, requiring an increase of 294 gigalitres per year into the Snowy.
In the north of Western Australia, an intensive irrigation farming area has been made possible by the damming of the Ord River. In 1941 the WA Government trialled a small farm in the area but it was abandoned. In 1945 The Kimberly Research Station was then established and by 1958 the Government were convinced the potential was there for an irrigation scheme. The initial development was completed in 1963 with the Ord being dammed and the water from the dam being used to supply irrigation to 31 farms. Construction of the Ord River Dam followed providing a huge storage reservoir known as Lake Argyle. The town of Kununurra was built to service the area. Today over 11000 hectares of irrigated land is farmed in the area.
Changes have occurred to the Ord River since it was dammed, not all bad, one positive being that the river is now maintained at a steady level, rather than the dramatic highs and lows it faced in its natural state. Vegetation along the edge of the river has benefited from this, as has local fauna. On the downside the river is no longer flushed clean by the monsoonal rain of the wet season, allowing noxious weeds to flourish and thus requiring the application of herbicides to kill them off.
Whilst the north of Western Australia seems to have an abundant supply of water the same cannot be said for the south of the State and the Perth metropolitan area. Water restrictions have become a fact of life for people in these areas as rainfall amounts decline and population numbers grow. The WA Government has put in place various water saving measures such as restrictions on watering gardens and lawns, rebates for water efficient appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers as well as for the installation of rainwater tanks and ground bores.
However these are only short-term solutions and the Government is looking to a desalination plant to assist in supplying future water requirements of the city and surrounding areas. Construction of the plant, to be built in an industrial suburb south of Perth, should begin in mid 2005 and take approximately 18 months to complete. The plant will be the biggest built in the Southern Hemisphere at a cost of $364 million and will supply an extra 54 gigalitres of water each year. www.watercorporation.com.au/desalination
There are those in WA who would prefer to see some of the vast body of water from the Kimberleys in the North of the State brought to the south via a pipeline. Ernie Bridge, a former politician and founder of the Watering Australia Foundation, had believed for many years, and still believes, it is the way to solve WA’s water problems and possibly those of other states as well. After all it has been done in Western Australia once already, with the Perth to Kalgoorlie pipeline.
C Y O’Connor, a visionary and brilliant engineer, designed the pipeline that would carry water 557 kms from Perth to Kalgoorlie, with the water being forced along the pipe by eight steam pumping stations. The controversy and ridicule O’Connor was subjected to resulted in him tragically taking his own life less than 12 months prior to the pipeline commencing operations. Today it carries water to around 440 000 square kilometres of land, 10 000 people and about 6 million sheep.
Water restrictions have become a way of life for many people in Australia. To some it may mean a minor inconvenience such as a limit on how long and how often you can water your garden. However on a larger scale it can impact on people’s livelihoods, such as SA irrigation farmers who were on restrictions, which left some of them without enough water to grow their crops to ultimate quality. In Western Australia, farmers in the South east of the State are having to cart water for their properties and livestock, due to a lack of rain last winter. The Ravensthorpe Shire has applied for a status of ‘water deficiency’. The West Australian Water Corporation states it is doing as much as possible to stop water in the Shire running out altogether, using such measures as restrictions and possibly portable desalination facilities. The Shire is also discussing the possibility of obtaining desalinated water from a mining company in the area.
Australia has then, made some progress, in the area of water reforms and conservation of this most precious natural resource. The juggling act required to balance the need of water users with the long term health and viability of water resources in Australia will require improved and sustained efforts on behalf of all Governments -State/Territory and Federal – as well as from every Australian. For years Australians have considered that they live in the ‘lucky country.’ If they are to retain this title then they will need to ensure they are the ‘clever people’ and take care of their natural resources.
|
