Ten years have passed since the 2005 Western Australian election, when the state’s battle lines were drawn over Perth’s water future. Geoff Gallop’s Labor party argued for desalination or the Southwest…
Earth’s oceans of liquid water make it unique in the solar system.
NASA
Earth is the only planet in our solar system with a long-term, stable supply of liquid water – essential for the formation and evolution of all organic life. But this doesn’t mean there aren’t other pockets…
As any barramundi fisher will tell you, northern Australia’s water isn’t going to waste.
Justin Friend
With increasing pressure on Australia’s water resources, many have looked to northern Australia to provide water for agriculture, urban development and other human needs.
Much of northern Australia is…
With so many interests vested in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, implementation will remain a challenge.
mike (away for a while)/Flickr
Reaching agreement on a Murray-Darling Basin Plan is undoubtedly a significant political accomplishment. The water resources of the Murray-Darling have been the basis of disagreement between states, industries…
The Plan includes the eventual delivery of “up to” 3200 gigalitres of water to the environment.
Jeremy Buckimham MLC/Flickr
Yesterday, Minister for the Environment Tony Burke signed the Murray-Darling Basin Plan into law, after the Murray-Darling Basin Authority had made the final changes he requested.
One hurdle remains…
Fluoridated water protects against the tooth decay from acid produced by bacteria in the mouth.
T. Faltings
The most effective way to prevent tooth decay is delivered to most Australian homes every day through their water pipes. It is, of course, fluoride distributed via the water supply.
Dental decay occurs…
There will always be conflict over how water is used, but we seem to be getting closer to agreement.
augustusoz/Flickr
Sharing water between different groups in society is almost inevitably a very contentious issue. Throughout the world, there are daily conflicts between people about how water can be used; at an individual…
Three years ago we discovered water on the moon, and now we’ve worked out where it’s from.
Jason Bache
A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience last week suggests water on the moon may have come, at least in part, from the sun.
Until a few years ago the orthodox view was that the moon was bone…
Ever wonder why Australians spend half a billion dollars a year on something that comes from the tap?
slinky2000
By Marnie Crook, Swinburne University of Technology
Water is just water, right? To some, yes, but many consumers spend inordinate amounts of time considering which brand they should buy and are willing to pay many times more than the price of humble tap…
The Wonthaggi desalination plant was proposed as Victoria’s solution to water security, but has been the subject of community concern and protest.
AAP/Thiess
What is the best solution to the problem of water security in Australia? Finding an answer to this question is no easy matter. There is still much we don’t know about the nature and impact of climate change…
Time to get our eyes back on the prize: the pragmatic, results-focused, multi-sector research effort of recent decades has stalled.
Welcome to Part Two of Professor Andrew Campbell’s special report on the troubling plight of irrigation research and development in Australia.
In part one, Professor Campbell argued that despite an unprecedented…
The waters of the Kimberley in Western Australia have long tempted politicians and engineers wanting to make the drier southern regions bloom.
Flickr/Koala:Bear
Settler Australians have a long history of trying to harness the continent’s great rivers to water the dead heart of the country. Schemes such as those of Bradfield and Idriess in the 1930s and 1940s sought…
Efficient water use is ever more important, yet budgets for vital irrigation R&D are declining.
A. Campbell
Welcome to a two-part special on the troubling plight of irrigation R&D, by Professor Andrew Campbell of Charles Darwin University. Research into the smartest, most efficient and sustainable ways to…
The price we pay for water should reflect what it costs to deliver. But does it?
Bronwyn Quilliam
The revelation that water users in Melbourne have been over-charged to the tune of $300 million highlights deficiencies in the mechanics of setting water prices in that state. Unfortunately, the flaws…
Liquid politics: fights over water will heat up unless its management is democratised.
Flickr/Kyle Horner
Welcome to the State of the Future series. This series addresses 15 global challenges posed by the Millennium Project, an international non-profit think-tank collecting responses for 40 nodes worldwide…
Irrigation infrastructure, buy-backs, environmental flows, agricultural communities: lobbyists will say anything to win the Murray-Darling war of lies.
Eco Images Pty Ltd
When the water planning process for the Murray-Darling Basin first commenced, an experienced colleague of mine noted that this was shaping up to be a lying contest between farmers and environmentalists…
A nice drop: we have the technology to recycle water to drinking quality, but have we the will?
Flickr/chantel beam photography
Our conventional water supply system that continually captures and delivers water is under great strain because of an increase in population, rapid urbanisation, and drastic changes in climate and rainfall…
In Victoria, only 10 out of 463 usable gigalitres of stormwater is used per year.
Chesapeake Bay Program
Over the past decade, Australians living in capital cities have dramatically reduced their consumption of water from centralised reservoir systems. This has been achieved through the installation of water…
The proposed Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been one of the most controversial pieces of public policy in Australia’s recent history. There has been the predictable divide between irrigators calling for…
Money isn’t the only way of measuring the Murray-Darling’s environmental benefits, but it’s a useful one.
CSIRO
One of the big challenges around the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s Proposed Basin Plan is to work out just how much the basin’s environment would benefit from the plan.
When the Guide to the proposed…
Almost 90% of the world now has access to drinking water, but there is still a long way to go.
barefoot photographers of tilonia/flickr
Did you hear about the latest success for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? Don’t be ashamed to say no – most of the world missed it with you.
So what happened? You’ll remember that the MDGs are…
A new national partnership agreement could allay a lot of CSG worries, if the states sign up.
kateausburn/Flickr
A new national agreement designed to protect water resources from coal seam gas extraction and coal mining could offer a level of protection so far unseen in Australian environmental legislation. Any states…
We can’t tame the oceans, but modelling can help us better understand them.
Badruddeen
Last year will go on record as one of significant natural disasters both in Australia and overseas. Indeed, the flooding of the Brisbane River in January is still making news as the Queensland floods inquiry…
Northern Australia has a lot of water, but intensive agriculture may not be the best use for it.
feral arts
The millenium drought has broken in the south, but that hasn’t diminished interest in developing the seemingly vast water resources of northern Australia.
The recent announcement of a multi-million dollar…
How can we say who gets what water when?
urbangarden
Since the MDBA (the Authority) released the long awaited Plan for the Murray-Darling Basin, the response has been both predictable and somewhat muted. Most predictable have been calls for certainty, based…
The science tells us what’s good for the environment; it’s up to others to decide the priorities.
thinboyfatter
CSIRO, like many other research institutions, has helped provide research, models and data to inform the development of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
But the proposed Basin Plan, which was released on…
South Australian communities know what it’s like to live without water.
AAP
When the Murray Darling Basin Authority commissioned me in 2011 to examine the social impacts on the Lower Murray and Lakes communities of low flows and drought, I was confronted with irrigation farmers…
Craig Knowles is ready and waiting for your submissions to the plan.
AAP
Yesterday’s release of the proposed Basin Plan for managing the Murray-Darling represents a significant step towards managing one of Australia’s greatest natural assets. The key to the plan’s success will…
We know water is important to environmental health, but a lot of the details are still fuzzy.
wazzasworld
The release of the Draft Murray-Darling Basin plan earlier today, and the announcement that 2,750 gigalitres would be returned to the environment, was followed by predictable outrage. Irrigators said that…
It doesn’t take much for sewage to break out of its pipes and into waterways.
Claire Evans
Australia’s urban waterways are often polluted and sick. They suffer from a condition called the “urban stream syndrome”. A common factor that contributes is contamination from sewage.
How and why does…
Understandably, farmers get worried when they think their water is under threat.
Phil Schubert
There are many good reasons why the general public, and in particular farmers, are concerned about coal seam gas (CSG) extraction. There are major gaps in our knowledge about the future impacts of CSG…
Water bursting from dams doesn’t just look impressive; it’s vital to the health of Australian rivers.
Kincuri
Water exploding from the Jindabyne Dam into the Snowy River made for compelling viewing in recent TV news reports.
As well as being good TV, this water release highlighted the importance of releases in…
It could take years to learn more about the impacts of CSG, but can we afford to wait?
AAP/Alan Porritt
By Malcolm Cox, Queensland University of Technology
Independent MP Tony Windsor has said he won’t back the government’s Mineral Resources Rent Tax unless more is done to make coal seam gas mining sustainable.
He has called for $200-400 million annually…
Water, habitat and tourist dollars: the Alps provide it all.
Jane Rawson
The Australian Alps cover some 1.64 million hectares, 0.3% of the Australian continent.
Included on the National Heritage register, they are of major environmental significance and home to rare and endangered…
In a changing climate, urban water planning needs to be more flexible.
Joe Castro/AAP
The National Water Commission released its Third Biennial Assessment of the 2004 National Water Initiative (NWI) in September.
The NWI is an agreement between all state and territory governments and federal…
Coal seam gas mining can create 5 million litres of “produced” water per well.
Jeremy Buckingham MLC
Last week, the Federal Government’s National Water Commission (NWC) delivered its third biannual assessment of the national water initiative (NWI). And for the first time, the NWC is looking seriously…
Ocean acidification is most acute in the polar regions.
Enzofloyd/flickr
Ocean acidification is often referred to as the “evil twin” of climate change.
Greenhouse gasses are doing more than just warming the globe. Increasing C0₂ levels are also changing the chemical make-up…
Hell or high water: environmental water management needs to be flexible.
Storer Boat Plans/flickr
The Murray Darling Basin Authority is about to release a Draft Plan for the management of the Murray Darling Basins water resources.
As with all plans, there will be devil in the detail, especially in…
Irrigators say they like the Windsor Inquiry, but are they looking after their own interests?
AAP
The Windsor Inquiry has handed down its report on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. It recommends a halt to water buybacks, more investment in irrigation efficiency and a new governance model for the Basin…
Arguments over water in the Murray Darling are about profits, not life and death.
jon gos/Flickr
Almost every major river basin in the world is significantly impacted by humans. The situation in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) is certainly not unique.
In river basins all over the world, communities…
Much to the chagrin of Australian governments, water managers and farmers, the continent’s signature climate variability and unpredictability has meant that water is generally at the wrong place at the…
A decision on the Murray-Darling is on the way, but will it be evidence based?
AAP
The past few days has shown that the issue of water reform in the Murray-Darling Basin is “back on the boil”. The current discussion is about what evidence is credible and how “evidence” is used to support…
Much coal seam gas water sits there going to waste.
SkyTruth/flickr
The Coal Seam Gas (CSG) industry constitutes an interesting opportunity for Australia. We could get a lot of positive things out of CSG. But it does produce a lot of “waste water”: if things go badly…
A missed opportunity to resuscitate our rivers.
Flickr/wazzas world
A vision splendid of the sunlit plain extended?
The federal budget acknowledges the profound impact of flood, fire and cyclones on our economy. It compensates, rebuilds and funds mental health programs…
Farmers are fired up, but it’s not as bad as they think.
AAP
Reports of the death of the Murray Darling Basin food bowl are grossly exaggerated, to borrow a phrase from Mark Twain.
Farmers have been up in arms about plans to give more water to the environment…
Apparently desalination plants are the answer to keeping Australian cities supplied with water. All that is required is to remove enough salt from an unlimited source of water to provide for each city…
Turning off the taps means we spend less, but is that bad?
Flickr/siette
The Productivity Commission’s recent report on Australia’s urban water sector sets out the economic case for reform. One reform they suggest: remove water conservation measures.
In Melbourne, most people…
It’s blue skies for some parts of the Basin, but others are left wanting.
AAP
The controversy over the Murray Darling Basin Guide centres on the need to strike a balance between the social, economic and environmental uses of water.
The difficulties in undertaking this task are…
