Mark, I seriously doubt there will ever be a solution to our water woes. The simple fact is that there are over 6 billion people relying on a World wide fixed amount of water. Some ask where all the water has gone. To start with, 6 billion people are carrying around something like 186 billion litres (50-60% of our body is water) not to mention all the water they have stored in the form of sauces, lotions, soft drinks, etc. Then I've heard wasteful comments like.."I have to pay for the pipe past my door, so I might as well use it!" Perhaps if payments were transferred from service charges to actual usage, or a much reduced service charge, then people might be inspired to install more tanks, but then Government would charge a tax on stored water because their policies are entwined with big business and the irreversible "growth equals wealth" mentality which is the real cause of our water woes and also climate change. The truth is, there are simply too many people on Earth, but in the end, nature will always take care of herself. The signs are there already that she's taking care of business, your posting and many more like them being an indicator. People are starting to wake up, but it will take nature to put a halt to the madness of capitalism. The fuse was lit long ago and the bang is soon to come. While the plight of the World relies on Governments pandering to greedy corporations, neither you, I or anyone else can do a damned thing about it, so just sit back and enjoy the ride as long as it lasts.

Even if your 'we're doomed' assertion is accurate, there are still things we can do about it - we can slow it down for starters.

The 'we can't do anything, so lets not even try' attitude is what has gotten us in this mess, and it is what is preventing wo us from doing anything about it.

I've pointed this out plenty of times, but I'll do it again - populations in the first world aren't increasing, it is the third world that is contributing. We can't reasonably ask them to stop having children, because it is the children that support them in later life in lieu of social services.
We can try to make life more equitable for the third world, which in turn will slow down their population growth.

The US government could also take a positive stance on condoms in Africa rather than discouraging them, simultaneously slowing the spread of aids and inhibiting uncontrolled population growth.

i agree. we do seem to be heading fo rsome major catastrophy and maybe it is inevitable. I was recently in India and it was my first experience of not easy access to water for free. someone is making a lot of money simply bettleing water (from dubious sources). I know people here in melbourne who don't drink the tap water. anyway, i agree that we need more tanks and catchments. it's amazing how much water goes down the drain in the city on a rainy day. Melbourne city is one very large water catchment actually we just always forget to put the plug in. if sewage can be turned into potable water surely rainfall over cities can too. when we are so concerned about catching water we are also very good at redirecting every drop away from the city and into the ocean along with all the rubish, oil, and whatever else it washes from the gutters. it would be interesting to find out whether water caught from rainfall in and around cities is actually potable.
this question might be naive but why don't i hear more about desalination plants? with the sea levels rising whay dont we drink that? i know the earths volume of water is always relative.... but?

Yes TLTR, I do agree with you, but fail to see how we can do anything to alter the mindset of the rich and powerful nations which in turn will lead to a stabilisation of populations in third Word countries. It's industrialised countries like the US that have caused this population explosion in the first place. Personally, I try to live a lifestyle that leaves as small an environmental imprint as possible. My home is almost self sufficient (except for power and phone) but sometimes my frustration at humanity gets the better of me, hence my last comment line. If I didn't care about the World and all her woes, I wouldn't even be posting on OLO. Sometimes, I do take heart from other posters here because I can see a groundswell of awareness beginning to stir, but I also fear that it's too late to convert the rest of those who perpetually chase the might dollar without a moments thought to just how their greed is destroying any hope that my grandchildren will live in time at least equal to what we have today. Even you TLTR must admit that the future for those kids doesn't look very bright.

Australia has plenty of water.
We have so much water that we are watering the desert in southern NSW to grow potatoes.Spraying tonnes of water onto soft limestone in Southern S.A. to grow grass for dairy cows.Rice in desert areas of NSW,and so the list goes on.
The government is aware of the need to soak up as much water that it gives a 100% tax rebate to the growers of Blue Gum trees.
We know that Coca Cola makes more profit from water in Australia than it makes from its Brand name soft drink.
Please do not keep following the path that Australia has no water.
My plan is to supply all Australians with a free water supply to every urban residence. Providing they have a large water tank and with the Federal Government $2000 rebate that Gas guzzlers are now able to claim,givern to water savers.
The Kimberleys and south west WA are other large watered areas.
What we need is less ignorant polititans and journalist who fail to see out side the square.
Every young Aussie girl now walks around with her own personal water supply care of Coca cola.
If australian governments were serious about water we would have large water pipes linking all states in Australia,similar to the new
electrical networks now in operation.

Yes, I'll acknowledge that the future doesn't look very bright.

I can't help but feel that most of our problems aren't caused by a lack of resources - the real issue here is apathy.

Think about for a second - the real expense in recycling isn't the recycling itself, it's separating the rubbish. If we had a dozen smaller bins for various products - paper, plastic, metal and so forth and all our organic waste was properly recycled, it would make a huge difference.

If only we stopped having so much packaging for every fast food meal, if we stopped drinking once from a plastic bottle then throwing it away, if we used our water more wisely, if we stopped making cheap new appliances instead of repairing our old ones, even if we replaced the filaments in lightbulbs instead of the whole thing... there are so many more practical things that we can do.

Future generations won't live as well as we do, but we have been spoilt. They will probably be better people than we are, if not a little resentful of their wasteful ancestors.

Besides - where there is opportunity there is profit, and as resources become scarce, those who can reuse what's there will reap the rewards.

Geez you coves, you don't know the bassic fundamentals of Therma-dah-namics.

*The gravitas of the hydrological cycle is not where we reside and not in the centre of our desert Island. It's in the surface of the world's oceans. And WE have created red zones and dead zones in those oceans that in turn create micro climates off our coasts. These microclimates actively suck all the moisture from our heartlands by the simplest of laws - the second law of thermodynamics(2LT). As an example, Sydney's deep ocean sewer outfalls have created a dead zone that is registered with the UN. And as the Tassie Premier touts his new pet vote-getter, Global Warming, he has one of the biggest pollution plumes in Australia off Hobart. Australia, If you don't want water shortages and politicians driving you insane with efforts to make water THEIR bully cash cow, 'STOP PISSIN IN THE POND'. All sewage must be recycled to stop drought. You don't need to pipe it back to dams. Nature does that for us by evaporation and RAINFALL. And get free of the Global warming guilt trip - GW ain't happening: http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/harris061206.htm

* There are many shortages and many threats to our future but water shortage is insignificant in comparison to population overload. The world will be pushing 10 billion souls by 2050 and I can assure you all reading this that we will have run out of personal space and individual DIGNITY before we run out of water. A resulting glut of violence is already showing up every day in newsreports: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/stroll-rage-slow-street-crosser-bashed/2006/08/16/1155407873473.html.
If we want to end up as lemmings, just keep listening to Howard's economic rationalism and Costello's Melbo-centric domination aspirations. If you want any kind of future, Australia needs to use value-added PBR Uranium exports to fund an unmanned SPACE program aimed at generating ET solar power and investigating safe orbital habitats.

But first we need to demolish the Howard government and put in place a leader who will raise EDUCATION and not immigration-obsequia as the premier force in Australian Politics and in our Society.

Online Opinion should just change its name to Theendoftheworldisnigh.com.au . Every second post here is some apocalyptic prediction from the Singer crowd. This sort of thing has been getting written since the 60's and they've been wrong any time. How many more do we have to sit through?

While we have "breath" it is never too late.

PART ONE:

Valid comments from TLTR, Wildcat and everyone else.

The thing that I see here is the relationship water has to other issues, which also cover the agenda of "basic need".

Ie: The developed worlds needs Vs the undeveloped worlds needs and, the impact that has on sustainable development.

I thought the example given about the way countries with large populations, have more children .... to help cope with basic human necessities - including the "responsiblity" of their parents is a good one here.

This is because through the question of "what do we do"... we discover that education for all the world's children is primary if we are to comprehend the needs to sustain ourselves and our children through future generations on this planet. This is because it has been proven... children with education appear to partner later in life... and have less children when they decide to have a family. This is because they choose to save, and have more opportunity to support their families with an education.

I also believe "wholesale" in recycled water!

Having seen first hand, the poor health conditions, in places like Vietnam, and Africa.... I realise;

a) how over the top we are in the developed world about (any form of) organic matter and

b) it is true that millions of people in India - on the fringe suburbs of Calcutta (and other places) are "market gardening" with semi-purified redirected channels of sewerage waters. Some of these channels are only three to five miles long... before the waters are utilised in the gardens for subsistant living.

In fact... this move... to rechannel the waters... was initiated with with the assistance of NGO's and the UN and has meant the difference for life and death for millions of struggling no income and low income families.

I feel we have all the economic trade markets locked in the developed world, while the expanding developing and under-developed worlds struggle to grow food to eat.

While we have "breath" it is never too late.

PART TWO:

We then get to blame these countries for the over-population and the quanity of sustainable resource use...?

Is the core problem not in "sharing".

I wonder what it will take to enhance our chances to change these aspects.

Do we need to revisit the "The Marshall Plan" of ... WWII?. I note here that the principals of this plan... (so war never happened again) benefited the American economy aside from helping to put Europe back on its feet.

See Google Search : http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Marshall+Plan&spell=1

The 2005 World Summit - back tracked badly on these issues, as representing powerful countries badgered the lime-lite over small Island Nations, Africa and Asia, where people with far less, are genuinely "engaged" at civic ground levels, to make a difference.

It seems now... the peasant communities everywhere could truely use some of this (once pro-active) knowledge.

www.miacat.com

“Nonetheless, feeding the world’s growing population will largely depend on irrigation, but increased competition for water will severely limit its availability for this purpose, which in turn would seriously constrain food production. Due in part to rapid population growth and urbanisation in developing countries, water use for households, industry, and agriculture is expected to increase by at least 50 per cent in the next 20 years.”

Mark Rosegrant, you recognise that a rapidly growing population is the driving force behind ever-more stressed water resources. But you make no suggestion that we should be doing anything other than just accept this continued rapid growth.

“However, a crisis is not inevitable. Achieving sustainable water use and ensuring adequate supplies of and access to water for food production is possible.”

Achieving a sustainable water use is not possible if we just sit back and accept that populations will continue to rapidly increase. Not only this, but any advances in water-use efficiency will facilitate population increase, which will take us further away from sustainability, and further away from being able to keep water-provision up to the people in the slightly longer term.

As I have said, in what must be approaching a thousand times on this forum, we cannot only address one side of the equation if we are genuinely striving for sustainability. As well as striving to improve supply and efficient usage, we MUST also address the continuously increasing demand.

As unpalatable as it may seem, strong measures to stabilise and then reduce population are absolutely imperative.

Yes Ludwig, but what do you suggest about the populations?

Besides war and famine.... there has been the stipulation in countries like Vietnam, India, China of one and two child households.... and this has its own transference of critical human rights abuses which includes gender abuses too (of preference to boys), as well as what happens in the area of disabilities.

That's why educaton and providing basic needs keeps cropping up as a major strategy in population ?control?....

If I had my way there would be SEX EDUCATION everywhere... not just against AIDS - condoms etc. For me it is a moral issue of human kind... one trapped or fretted as a economic one because of the "individualisms" that appears statistically when
higher incomes are evident, as there appears to be less children in these families... in all cultures.

It irritates me when I see or imagine (which I do) the number of children concieved after just one nite out. Sex - pro-creation - unplanned is wreakless don't you think? I think it is to do with emotional literacy.... loneliness.... self - something....

At least in the villages of the under-developed world, the idea of family has something to do with "why" have a family - and that there is a whole contribution as family to family... though not everywhere.

Part of my own reluctance to having a family was/is about war, famine and the state of displaced children. I decided to work in areas of sustainable development (in this life) rather than have a family... because with my background... I was not so sure I could provide well for a family, given I am also a migrant.

You hit the nail on the head Ludwig... but with so much doom everywhere and especially at present... how do we stay pro-active on these extremely complex issues?

"Asked what concerned them most, respondents rated water shortages equal last with overcrowding."

"http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/the-water-we-take-for-granted/2006/08/18/1155408025290.html

This SMH article represents a typical lie based on Howard spin and riddle.

Only an unsatidfactory poll mechanism would put Overcrowding and Water shortages last on that poll list. I mean for water and overcrowding to be last, there had to be a list. That list HAD to have been pre-itemised, and anyone who thinks Howard would not arrange the list so Water and overcrowding would be last still believes in Santa.

Further, the poll was another one of those Nation-wide ones when it should have been based on Sydney alone because Sydney has 25% of the population and is being singled out with around 100,000 immigrants and more than 50,000 of their cars as an extra load on Sydney every year.

The real questions of relevance here should have been:

*Do you think Peak Hour Times are getting longer in the main focus of immigration, Sydney, because of too many cars and thus too many people settling in Sydney. And trains, police, hospitals?

* Do you think Water restrictions in Sydney are unfair when they are purely related to Government and corporations unsustainably profiteering from focusing immigration in Sydney.

*Do you think the above concerns are top of the list, bearing in mind Australia is ONE NATION where we should be 'all for one and one for all', when corrupt forces are clearly perpetrating commercial injustices against our fellow citizens of Sydney.

I think all Australians would tell the truth and answer positively on those concerns.

Additionally the poll should have at least had a quarter of respondents chosen from Sydney to reflect the population balance! I mean they probably asked 2000 of the 3550 people from elite Melbourne Suburbs to enforce their desired media propaganda.

God help us all when New Media Monopoly laws get passed. I can see the first poll now:

" Australians, in a new Federal Poll (1000 people in Wahroonga!) agree that all traffic offenders and abusers of water restrictions should be transported to New Zealand Penal Colonies"

The author got one thing right: water is nothing like oil. The supply of water is many orders of magnitude greater. Other than the article seemed to be saying *we* have to do this this and this because of some problem *they* are having over in the third world. Seems an odd basis for a discussion of policy in Australia.

Water and its infrastructure should not every be privatised. It must remain in the hands of the people.

Australian's are too urbanised to fully understand the effects of the drought and just how serious it is. I have quite a few who think the water crises is a government conspiracy to charge us the earth...that there is no real shortage. Have they visited a dam? Nope.

“Yes Ludwig, but what do you suggest about the populations?”

It’s a good question Miacat.

I think you are on the right track – education, especially for women and girls, family planning, the provision of basic necessities and an overall raising of standard of living. If the will was there these things could be implemented by the UN and governments around the world.

If Mark Rosegrant was arguing for improved water-provision and water-use efficiency as part of a sustainability program, in which the continuous growth factor was addressed just as vigorously, then fine. But he, like so many other writers of similar articles on this forum, is not doing that…. and is therefore rather blindly (but inadvertently) facilitating unending population growth, or I should say; population growth that will end pretty soon, in an almighty crash.

Okay, so there have proven to be significant downsides to concerted efforts to control population growth, especially in China. But as bad as they may be, they are nothing compared to the prospects of our global population continuing to grow much beyond its current level.

Unfortunately I believe that it is too late. Even our best efforts are only going to result in a reduction of the growth rate, not a stabilisation of population, let alone a total reduction, which is what we rather desperately need and in a pretty short timeframe.

But this is no excuse for not putting the maximum effort that we can into it, or for imploring good people like Dr Rosegrant not to just accept that our population will continue to increase.

The whole purpose of their jobs, careers and lives is lost if they just accept this continued increase as inevitable.

Well put Ludwig and especially the last point. "The whole purpose of their jobs, careers and lives is lost if they just accept this continued increase as inevitable"

And so goes for all of us "by standers" er?

Reply 1:

I wonder though when it comes to population control - if there is one thing in common... it is the historical or even transmissive descent of the ethical and moral. Be it allowing water to waste ie: leaving taps on - allowing the hose or farm bore to leak.... then it is a similar problem with population control. False ideation of "affluence" which seems to appear with capitalism in all cultures.

I feel it needs to be a global thing, to care more about the "rights of children", their livehood in the future... through the way we socialise as adults, (ie: not to carelessly procreate... which involves the minds - body and souls of both men and woman).

I can't stand blaming the undeveloped world... when we (the so called developed world ) are so obviously wreckless.

For me it comes down to (wait for it... ) "how civilised who"?

I see the populations of yester-year in Europe and England took their fair share of hardship... before these governments and industries built their capital... from the resources of the poorer now underdeveloped nations.

Fear of sickness, disease and the need for family labour were the issues then as they are now, everywhere where there is poverty. You'd think we could get round this eh... having the knowledge to know better?

We are no where unless we keep flagging the issues, badger the officals, and anyone else "acting" deaf... inspiring all to work together.

For me it is about transfering our knowledge - even though I do know it is all going to possibly make things increasingly difficult because we need these hard new sustainable development policies... because people unforunately won't use disscretion on their own.

Reply 2:

I wish the mums and dads of Asia - Africa - the small Island states did not have to go through what many of previous generations went through... be it lack of drinking water, lack of food or others survival issues.

I wish our lot would be a wee bit smarter in the ethical sense than fight so hard to be so reckless.

Moreso, I wish the government would work from the ground up... include people in these sustainable polices... it might be the "who, what and when" in the why being the gift behind the way... these strategies work.

Social inclusiveness has to be the next step for both communities and governments!

People need to be part of the process if we need them to own it's outcome.

www.miacat.com

Mark Rosegrant:

In spite of your ' doom and gloom ' prognosis regarding the future of Planet Earth, it's refreshing to know some people here have a social conscience, and apart from preaching enviornmental issues - at least try to be informative.

For years I've been writing about the mindset of our fearless Leaders who over past generations have taken Professor Donald Horne's " My Lucky Country " literally and instead of implementing positives to improve our lot, have squandered precious time and resources, to the detriment of our Nation.

Successive Government's in every State, have opted for expedient ' easy ' solutions - in everything from Health, Crime, Foward Planning.. to water, for which we are now seeing the painful effects, being played out.

In Qld, the Govt has not only abrogated their Duty of Care to their constituents, they have been willfully negligent and deceitful. For years, they have spawned their propaganda to the deluded hoi polloi about their ' achievements ' - only to discover albeit, fiasco's ranging from the Dr Patel's scandal, Wivenhoe Dam's 30 % capacity, CBD's unfretted crime wave. Dire shortages for emergency Hospital beds and long queue's for life threatening Operations - the list is endless. Now, it's advocating plans for recycling excrement for drinking, cooking and showering ?

MR, you don't have to worry about Third World Communitie's running out of Water, ever again.The solution is so fundamentally simple.

We spend Millions on developing the Tourist Trade - urging wealthy Asian's, Mid-Eastern Sheik's, and North American's to ' bloody visit us Down-under ". The reality: who would spend a plugged nickel in the ' sunshine state ' luxuriating in the 6 Star Palazzo Versace, or Q1 Resort, wining and dining in ' poo water ' ??

Redicule aside, the last Dam built in Qld was in 1990. Lake Dyer, in Gatton. It is a monumnent to Nepotism and Cynicism. It has been bone dry since it's inception. It is a barren saltpan - thanks to Politician's who over-ruled the experts from the Dept of Natural Resources. Traveston Dam will be the paradigm

to Beattie's alter-ego.

Ironically, the Weatherman and Social Scientist's have been predicting the Food and Water malaise for decades. The Draught has been Aust's Paradox ever since settlement. Dorothy McKellar's reference to the ' sunburnt Country ' is as true today as it was in her time. Generation's of Farmer's and Grazier's have suffered climatic vicissitudes as their ' career-burden . The Bureaucrats ensconced in Canberra write tomes on Al Queda, Hezbollah, and the sex-life of the Vole, yet pressing issues are relegated to..??
It's a pathological virology endemic to the ACT. Must be the unfiltered water from Burleigh Griffith.

We have become blase about the necessities of Life. For too long, abused Mother Nature in our hedonistic pursuit of the ' good-life '. Climatic change, global warming, ozone layer. Fossilised fuels, food chain,GI crops, salinity, myriad social disparities have overnight become chi-chi.

The challenge's that beset the Third World is nothing new. Famine,disease,hunger, poverty etc have permeated since the dawn of Time.

Most Developing Nation's are catching up with the rest of the World. They will have to evolve the pandemic of 'civilised culture' - obesity, fast-foods, estasy,binge-drinking, wife-bashing, single-parenting, credit-card debt, identity fraud - the litany reads like the foibles of Alice in Neverland, except for it's gravity.

TWC have got their priorities by the short and curlies. Instead of vital infrastructure in Water, Electricity, transport, manufacturing, research..they are investing in Defence mechanisms. The Arm's sale world-wide is escalating like no other.The US, UK, France and Russia are at the forefront selling surpluses to TWC.They have a voracious appetite for the latest Missile, Fighter a/c, tank or Katusha rocket etc.

The emphasis today is to appear with a Big Stick, and in some Asian Communities it is a face-saving-device. " Better to starve today than beg tomorrow ". Confucius.

Quote: " increase competition for water will severly limit availability.." would have no impact here or abroad. The presumption we are usurping water from elsewhere is absurd. The defining moment is HOW we judiciously manipulate this finite element. Judging from past experience, it's been a disaster

Bon Appetit !

I notice that no one has commented on "virtual water" which is the water embodied in food, fibre and meat etc as a result of the animals and plants consuming water and the water used in preparing their feeds and cleaning milking sheds.
The muliples are massive a single tonne of meat typically embodies about 16000 tonnes of virtual water. So when New Zealand farmers export meat to Saudi Arabia and other water short countries New Zealand is actually exporting thousands of tonnes of virtual water.
As a matter of interst New Zealand's exports of virtual water match quite closely Hong Kong's imports of virtual water. New Zealand's net virtual trade is some 19,500,000,000 tonnes of virtual water every year.
So one key to the crisis facing water short countries is free trade which enables water rich countries like New Zealand to export virtual water to those who are short of it.