Water: Australia’s most powerful resource

Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth. We have the least amount of water in our rivers, the lowest water run-off and the smallest area of permanent wetlands on the globe. Water is arguably our most precious resource.
Water is often on the forefront of Australia’s national agenda. As reports of drought plagued farmers and flooded cities frequent our media and enter our hearts, developments in water technologies are helping to keep the economy going.

Saturday March 22 marks International World Water Day. Its purpose is to raise awareness of the relationship between water and energy. Water plays an important role in energy generation and transmission into millions of Australian homes. Approximately 8 per cent of global energy generation is used to treat and transport water to cities and towns.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the agricultural industry consumed a massive 59% of Australia's water consumption in 2011-12, making it the nation’s largest water user.  Agriculture is not the only Australian industry that relies on this resource, the water supply and sewerage services used 13% of the total water consumption. Furthermore, Australian households gulped down 11% of our precious resource with mining and manufacturing only using 4% and 3% respectively.

Over the next few days on GEreports we will share stories about water and technology.

To whet your appetite, discover how technology could help protect our most celebrated World Heritage Site, the Great Barrier Reef. Across the ditch, you can see how the same membrane technology is transforming the performance of Lake Rotorua’s water treatment plant.  To really blow your mind, read how a rough diamond discovered in a Brazilian river bed could be a clue to a vast ‘wet zone’ deep inside the earth.

Do you have an incredible story about water? Please leave a comment in the section below. We’d love to hear from you.

GEreports editorial team