Water Facts and Resources
Around 70% of our planet's surface is water, so surely it's not a resource we need to worry about, right?
Wrong.
The vast majority of water on the Earth's surface (over 98 percent) is saline - or salty - water in the oceans. But it is the freshwater resources, such as the water in streams, rivers, lakes, and ground water that provide people (and all life) with most of the water we need to live. Australia is the driest inhabited continent, with a limited supply of fresh water...
Water must be used wisely if there is to be enough to meet the needs of future generations. Awareness about the amount of water used in everyday tasks is the first step in developing a responsible approach to water use.
The Australian Water Association has published a resource to help people understand water. From availability to water quality to recycling, it's a huge topic! It includes some basic facts and figures as well as exploring some myths and ideas to help you understand water a little better.
- Water In Australia [894Kb]
This contains all the resources listed below in one file. - Introduction
- Table of contents
- Facts & Figures
- Rivers
- Groundwater. Dams and storing water
- How much water does Australia have? How much do we use?
- Paying for water. What water earns
- Who does the water belong to? The National Water Initiative
- Water trading. Units of measurement for water
- Industry uses most of our water
- A rainwater tank for every home
- Stormwater collection for use in our cities
- Recycle water instead of letting it go to waste in outfalls
- Twice around - reusing water
- Desalination uses too much energy
- Build more dams
- Build more dams near the coast, where it rains more
- Prevent evaporation from reservoirs
- Dig out reservoirs to increase storage
- We can always count on groundwater
- A national water grid
- Turning back rivers inland
- We need drip irrigation for all crops
- Farm in the north, where the water is
- Water supply from the north
- Shipping water in tankers
- Moving water long distances by canal
- Towing icebergs from Antarctica
- Drain seawater from Spencer Gulf into Lake Eyre
- Cloud seeding can supplement our water resources significantly
- The price of water is wrong; it's too cheap (or too expensive)
- Water words
- More sources of information about water
This book is copyright © Australian Water Association 2007. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval device, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission. Enquiries to be made to the Australian Water Association. First published 2007.
To find out more, visit these useful websites.