Water


water-2.jpgYou have to love water. Water is, without doubt, the most incredible substance we know. All life depends on it. Although water covers three quarters of our Earth’s surface, the freshwater that so much of life depends upon only makes up 1% of this water – just a tiny sliver scattered on this earth to support us all.

'Water, water every where, nor any drop to drink.'

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', 1799


MYTHS

There is more than enough water to go around. We can drain our rivers at will and they always recover. We use water so wisely that we can’t possibly find any more savings.


FACTS

Fresh water is our most precious resource on earth. It is the essential ingredient for life on earth. We use it in almost everything we do. We depend on it for drinking, eating, energy and transport. We have become so used to its seeming abundance that, like a loving mum, we have come to take it for granted.

In Melbourne water levels in our dams are at historical lows. We have not even had an average rainfall for since 1996. We now have a new average much lower than our historical records. Our farms are getting drier, the runoff into our dams is slowing down – we have less water for everything.

Melbourne households are terrible at conserving water. Consider for a moment the recent global study by international water experts Hoekstra and Chapagain. They found that Victorian households held the worst record for water consumption. On average, each Melburnian uses 341,000 litres of water each year – that’s around 8 backyard swimming pools. We are the most carefree by a good distance on the driest continent on the planet! The closest to us is Canada in distant second with 279,000 litres per year. The Americans use 217,000 litres per person, the Chinese 26,000 and Bangladesh just 16,000 litres (half a backyard pool). The world average is 57,000 litres. We need to lift our game.

Using water tanks to capture all the rainfall from our roofs is a great start. Recycling our stormwater and wastewater would be a brilliant. Currently most of it just gets washed down the drain.


Latest information

 

  • And now for some good news on water...

    June 25th, 2010

    Let's face it: green fatigue is real. It's hard to keep caring when all you hear is bad news.
    And that's why we all need a bit of good news. We need to be reminded that good things are happening, and the world isn't falling to pieces just yet.

    Read more >

  • Ten Nations at 'Extreme Risk' Because of Water Shortages, Report Says

    July 29th, 2010

    Ten countries worldwide, including five African nations, are at "extreme risk" because of limited access to clean, fresh water, according to a new global water security index. And the effects of climate change and population growth will exacerbate the stress on these water supplies, potentially threatening stability in many regions.

    Read more >

  • The Story of Bottled Water

    March 24th, 2010

    The Story of Bottled Water, releasing March 22, 2010 on storyofbottledwater.org, employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand—how Americans buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows from the tap.

    Read more >

  • Acid oceans

    December 15th, 2009

    Acid oceans

    This is not a good news story. But it is an extremely important one. We’re talking about ocean acidification. As if rising sea levels and increased extreme weather events weren’t bad enough. It turns out that climate change is also going take hold of our oceans in a big, scary way.

    Read more >

  • Global distribution of world's water

    August 20th, 2009

    Though water covers almost three quarters of the Earth’s surface, we can only drink 1% of it – just a tiny sliver scattered on this earth that supports us all.

    Read more >

  • Bottled water

    July 29th, 2009

    Bottled water

    Put your hand up if you are happy to pay 1,000 times over the odds for anything. No hands showing? Now put your hand up if you would buy a bottle of something down at the shops for $2.50 that you can get for free with no effort. No hands showing? Well the hands should be up - this is what millions of us do every day. Are we fair-dinkum dills?

    Read more >

Snapshot

this week's carbon emissions:
2.132m tonnes

water restrictions:
Stage 3

current uv levels:
Low

water storage levels:
35.8% full

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