Our research shows the world is not on track to achieve any of the Sustainable Development Goals. But with decisive action, we can still achieve a fairer, more sustainable and prosperous future.
Alien pine trees, which use substantially more water than the native vegetation of the Cape Mountains, reduce river flows to dams that supply the city’s water.
Martin Kleynhans
Residents of a small Victorian town realised that delicious water can be a curse as well as a blessing, when they lost a legal battle to stop a local farmer shipping groundwater to a nearby bottling plant.
The future of Perth’s urban wetlands is in doubt.
Orderinchaos/Wikimedia Commons
Perth, unlike Cape Town, faces no prospect of its tapwater running out. But other problems lurk beneath the surface, as the city’s drying climate puts increasing pressure on irrigation and wetlands.
Deep dive: water flows from a bore in Birdsville, Queensland.
Lobster1/Wikimedia Commons
Groundwater is out of sight, but it shouldn’t be out of mind. As cities struggle to cope with drought, we should remember that our largest stocks of water are hidden deep underground.
It pays to think very carefully about your new fridge.
DedMityay/Shutterstock.com
We use our fridges, washing machines and air conditioners every day. That means that we should consider much more than the up-front retail price when choosing to invest in a new one.
Coal mines, such as this one near Bowen, use water for everything from equipment cooling to dust management.
CSIRO
Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin has been granted an unlimited 60-year water licence. But a range of measures could help the industry use less freshwater.
An innovative water-sensitive project aims to dramatically improve the health of slums and their environment together.
Rebekah Brown, Monash University; Karin Leder, Monash University, and Tony Wong, Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities
A five-year project announced today will implement an innovative water-sensitive approach tailored to informal settlements. The goal is to revitalise 24 communities in Fiji and Indonesia.
Despite a decade of drought and declining rainfall in parts of Australia, there’s still plenty of water to go around.
Maroondah reservoir from www.shutterstock.com
The Millennium Drought ended more than five years ago, but several years of below-average rainfall and El Niño have brought drought back to many parts of Australia. Our latest report on water in Australia shows rainfall is continuing to decline in eastern Australia and increase in the north.
Open-air irrigation: so last century.
Bidge/Wikimedia Commons