The Water Issue

    One quick glance at an atlas will remind anyone that there is no shortage of water here in Australia. Unless, of course, you want to drink it. And then it becomes a whole other issue.

   Fresh water comes at a premium in this country.  Rivers, largely found near the perimeter of the country, are the domain of the farming industry.  People who like to play in water hop over to their nearby patch of ocean.  People who like to drink water hang out at the water catchment areas.  These rain filled reservoirs are strictly off-limits to human (and their pets) recreation but that doesn't stop the masses from trekking to their shores.  Picnic tables and grills are set up by the local shire so people can eat their lunches while looking at the water in the catchment.  Coming from an area of the planet where moisture arrives plentifully year round and its usually full reservoirs are far more people-friendly, I thought this behavior was rather amusing when I first arrived.  But it is serious business for Australians who know and consider this is their only potable water source.

    Until recently.

South Dandenup catchment

    Despite the massive floods you may have heard about in Queensland, most of the remaining states are nervous about the lack of it.  Rivers are being overtapped for irrigation water (the Murray-Darling an infamous example), water lotteries for farmers are random and often considered unfair and , here in Western Australia, the catchments are drying up for the increased demand for water and the lack of rain.  The South Dandenup catchment we visited recently (pictured here) is at 27% capacity. WA is collectively praying for a wickedly wet winter to make up for last year's abysmally dry one.


    But it is more than just our next glass of water from the tap is of concern.  Immigration policy officials, for example, are monitoring the situation closely.   It is predicted that the population of Australia will balloon from its current 21 million to 36 million by the year 2050.  Current water resource simply cannot support that people increase.  Something has to happen.  Clamp down on population control or rethink the drink.


    And so the ideas are being bandied about.  Exhortations to conserve water are ever more strident.   Ocean water desalinization, once thought too expensive a process to be viable, is now being reconsidered.   And recently it  was announced that the absolutely unthinkable was being developed for beta testing:  household and light business waste water will be diverted from its path to the ocean and on to treatment  plants for cleaning and recycling into the fresh water supply.   An abhorrent idea just several years ago, Aussies are now willing to give the idea a listen.  It's a mark of the desperation felt.