Chapter 1
Water: A Precious Resource
In This Chapter
Understanding how water is supplied to your home
Drinking tap water versus bottled water
Coping with reduced rainfall in rural areas
Have you ever woken up and gone to the bathroom, turned on the tap, and discovered that nothing comes out? In your initial panic, you probably wondered how you were going to get through the next few hours â you canât take a shower, make breakfast or clean your teeth.
Your no-water crisis may have been caused by something like a broken pipe, which can be quickly fixed. Yet over one billion people in the world today have no guarantee of water from one day to the next. And if current trends continue, in less than 20 years, two-thirds of the worldâs population is going to suffer regular water shortages. Even the industrialised world is running out of water.
The bare facts are that simply not enough water is available to supply increasing demands. Since 1900, the worldâs population has grown two-fold, but global water use has increased six-fold. Reduced rainfall caused by climate change is now exacerbating the problem.
In this chapter, I explain how water supplies work and why the way water is delivered is going to change radically over the next ten years. I show you how these changes may affect you, and what you can do to make sure youâre not left high and dry.
Understanding Why Water Is a Precious Commodity
Some facts about water can help you appreciate how dramatic the shortage situation is.
Up to 41 per cent of the worldâs population lives in regions that are under water stress â in these areas, water supply is much less than the global average. These parts of the world include northern and central Africa and the Middle East. By comparison, in urban areas of Australia, the United States and Europe, water supply is much higher than the global average. Despite this, the developed world also faces water shortages.
Where your water comes from
Ordinarily, water is delivered to homes and businesses in large urban areas as follows:
1. Water from rivers and streams is collected in strategically placed dams and reservoirs, or drawn from natural underground sources.
Most big cities rely on many dams. Places such as Perth and Alice Springs get their water from underground sources.
2. The water is delivered to filtration plants.
At the filtration plant, much of the sediment and minerals is removed, chlorine is added to kill any living things and fluoride is added to prevent tooth decay.
3. The water is delivered to homes and businesses via a network of pumping stations and pipes.
These networks are extensive. For example, Sydneyâs network of underground water pipes is approximately 21,000 kilometres long â the same distance as flying from Sydney to New York via London.
For agricultural and farming purposes, the method is more direct: Irrigation water is pumped straight from a nearby watercourse or groundwater supply. Also, many rural towns pump their water supply straight from natural waterways and channels, and rely on residential rainwater tanks for back-up (for more details about rainwater tanks, see the section âTanking itâ later in this chapter).
Many of the methods used to deliver water are unsustainable. Hereâs why:
Damming natural waterways and concreting streams and rivers interferes with and, in some cases, destroys the natural ecosystem.
Drawing too much water from rivers and streams reduces water flow; the removal of vegetation near rivers and streams intensifies sunlight; and agricultural run-off and sewage foul waterways with the wrong kind of nutrients. Algae blooms, which kill aquatic life, flourish under these conditions.
Water drawn from rivers and underground water supplies for irrigation contains mineral salts. When this water evaporates, the salts are left in the top layers of the soil. This process increases
salinity, which makes the soil useless for farming.
Unless it rains, dams simply dry up. This drying up is accelerated by evaporation and by rates of rising consumption.
Ageing pipes and infrastructures used to deliver water in urban areas are susceptible to leakages and contamination.
Where your wastewater goes
Getting water to your home, your business or your farm is one thing. But getting rid of the wastewater after you use it is all together another issue.
