Land and Water Link
November 2003
Pooling Water Resources
Future generations of Australians will barely believe that there once
was a time when fresh drinking water flowed from every tap and flushed
every toilet, while rainwater ran straight down the drain and out to sea
– where it joined with all kinds of wastes, including raw and treated
sewage. They will wonder how we managed to live in the world’s driest
inhabited continent for so long, before realising that water is a precious
resource – one that should be conserved, recycled and reused.
There is still a long way to go, but the Australian
Water Conservation and Reuse Research Program is bringing us all much
closer to a sustainable future. As the Coordinator, Dr Peter Dillon from
CSIRO Land and Water explains: ‘The program is designed to focus
research on the most pressing issues and make sure that the results are
shared with the wider community.’
‘By doing so, we hope to support innovation in total water planing
and management, water sensitive urban design, the reuse of stormwater
and effluent, and policies and regulations to improve urban water management
practices.’
Development of the program was originally motivated by a review of water
reuse, current research and research needs published by Dr Dillon in the
year 2000, which found the Australian research base modest and fragmented.
‘The situation we had then created barriers to good water management
and left us vulnerable to failures and inferior decisions, building in
long-term inefficiencies’, says Dr Dillon. ‘It was agreed
that a coordinated, national effort would be required if Australian water
conservation and reuse was to advance into the twenty-first century.’
The Australian Water Conservation and Reuse Research Program is led by
CSIRO and the Australian
Water Association (AWA), together with a wide range of stakeholders
– including groups as diverse as City Councils, Catchment Management
Boards and water industry groups like the GreenPlumbers
Association.
Research is being carried out by CSIRO under the auspices of the Healthy
Country Flagship Program, in conjunction with Cooperative Research
Centres, Universities and the Australian
Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (AATSE).
‘Water utilities, government departments, local government, developers
and water technology companies are invited to join existing stakeholders
and ensure the success of the program’, says Dr Dillon.
More than a dozen activities have now been commissioned in the first
phase, known as Stage 1. Subject to securing sufficient funding, all of
these activities will be completed by early 2004. The final set of reports
will be made available on the program website and workshops will be run
in each state next autumn.
The first draft report, which concerns factors influencing public perceptions
of water reuse, has already been issued to current stakeholders.
Research activities also encompass agricultural and environmental issues,
economics and contractual arrangements, health and risk assessment, and
the implementation of new technology. This includes systems for domestic
scale harvesting of rainwater and stormwater, reuse of grey water (household
laundry and bathroom wastewater), on-site treatment of effluent and the
development of new plumbing codes.
‘Case studies of integrated water management and an inventory of
recent developments and new knowledge in water-sensitive urban design
will help to build a bigger picture of current research’, says Dr
Dillon. ‘And Dr John Radcliffe from AATSE is generating a comprehensive
analysis of water conservation and reuse activities and issues.’
‘Australia is currently the second highest user of domestic water
in the world. Urban areas take a similar volume of water per hectare from
supply catchments as irrigation, but discharge a much greater volume as
stormwater and sewage.’
Dr Dillon concludes, ‘There are great opportunities to improve
water use efficiency and harvest this otherwise wasted water, reducing
demands on stressed catchments, leaving more water in streams and aquifers,
and easing pollution.’
‘Rainwater, stormwater, greywater and reclaimed water will all
form part of an indispensable future water supply in urban areas. The
Australian Water Conservation and Reuse Research Program will address
the barriers that have historically inhibited the safe and productive
use of these relatively untapped resources.’
With a sound basis for investment, Stage 2 activities will build on the
outputs of Stage 1. A national portfolio of innovative demonstration projects
will require an expanded group of stakeholders, including government.
These projects will be supported by a new phase of research activities
that will fill the most important knowledge gaps and facilitate the implementation
of new technology, education and training practices, and guideline and
policy reform.
The program is currently looking for funding to support research activities,
and proponents for innovative demonstration projects from household to
city-wide scale where the performance of new technologies and systems
can be evaluated (in Stage 2) and catalyse widespread uptake.
The research program is aimed at conserving and generating within 10
years 1000GL more water each year for Australian cities that need it most.
Further Information
CSIRO contact:
David Ellis (Program
Manager)
Ph: +61-8-8303 8420
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