Water and energy use are becoming more efficient, which is good news for both the economy and the environment. But Australia has yet to realise the value of national environmental accounting.
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Articles on Water use
Displaying 1 - 20 of 23 articles
Small solutions done properly can play a huge role in dealing with water scarcity.
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.
World Water Day shines a light on the importance of safe, clean drinking water, but a new report finds Canada's freshwater systems are under stress.
Perth is looking at recycling all its sewage in the city's future water supply. But many Australians' drinking water already contains indirectly recycled treated sewage.
Nature based approaches to solving water problems originated in Europe and don't take into account Africa's huge infrastructure deficit.
There are measures in place to manage Day Zero and beyond. Models show that these will not work.
The situation in Perth in particular has some parallels to that of Cape Town, but Australian cities responded to the last big drought by investing in much bigger water supply and storage capacity.
Developing a map of African countries' water poverty levels offers a transparent analysis for policymakers, governments and organisations that deal with water issues.
Australian cities have turned to some very costly solutions when water is scarce. But as the world's second-highest users of water per person, more efficient use and recycling are key.
Allegations of water theft have thrown the Murray-Darling Basin Plan into crisis. The solution could involve users declaring their annual water use, subject to random audits - like a tax return.
Modern sewerage infrastructure, exported from Britain to the globe, is entirely dependent on water. In a world of growing climate extremes, it's time to look beyond this colonial legacy.
The globe is greening as plants grow faster in response to rising carbon dioxide. But a new analysis shows they aren't using more water to do it - a rare piece of good news for our changing planet.
Windhoek can teach Cape Town on dealing with drought. Technology alone is not enough.
There is an increasing demand for water in cities like Cape Town. The current drought exacerbates this. But there are ways to use and save water sustainably.
Taps need technology too.
The Colorado River supplies water to millions of people and irrigates thousands of miles of farmland. New research warns that climate change is likely to magnify droughts in the Colorado Basin.
Travelling to work can require as much water as you use at home.
There are loads of things you can do to cut your energy bills - and many don't involve stumping up any cash up-front at all.
Climate change is forcing some hard decisions when it comes to water use: energy or food production?
Top contributors
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Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science, Western Sydney University
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Associate Professor in Construction and Environmental Assessment, University of Melbourne
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André Stephan is a Friend of The Conversation.
Lecturer in Architectural Engineering, University of Melbourne
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CSIRO Scientist, and Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project, CSIRO
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Director of the Institute for Sustainability and Innovation, Victoria University
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PhD candidate, RMIT University
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Director, Institute of the Environment, Distinguished Professor of Science, and Regents' Professor of Geosciences, Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona
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Energy Advisor, formerly, University of Melbourne
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Michael Vardon is a Friend of The Conversation.
Associate Professor at the Fenner School, Australian National University
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Visiting Adjunct Professor, University of the Witwatersrand
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PhD Candidate, Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne
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Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Global Change Institute, University of the Witwatersrand
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Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University
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Professor of Hydroinformatics, University of Exeter
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Chief research scientist, CSIRO
