Posted 19 August 2009
Dr Mike Kelly, Parliamentary Secretary for Water, today launched the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) Report Card 2008-2009 showing that water consumption in residential Australia dropped by 12 per cent over the previous financial year.
"The WSAA Report Card highlights the achievements of the urban water industry in producing substantial water savings and improving efficiency. It shows that Australia is establishing itself as a world leader in managing urban water," Dr Kelly said.
"Among the priorities of the Rudd Government's $12.9 billion Water for the Future initiative is securing our water supplies – including the supplies of urban areas.
"Water for the Future is providing significant investment in programs to help secure water supplies for the current and future needs of our towns and cities."
Rudd Government programs including the $1 billion National Urban Water and Desalination Plan and the $254 million National Water Security Plan for Cities and Towns are helping the urban water industry prepare for the impact of climate change and a future with less water.
"We are committed to supporting states and local communities as they identify and develop new sources of water that are less reliant on rainfall, including desalination, recycling and stormwater harvesting projects," Dr Kelly said.
"The WSAA Report Card highlights the Australian urban water industry's performance and provides information to help target future investments."
Links
Professor Andy Baker features in American Water Resources Association ‘Water Resources Impact’, September 2020 edition.
The Connected Waters Initiative (CWI) is pleased to welcome Taylor Coyne to its network as a postgraduate researcher. If you’re engaged in research at a postgraduate level, and you’re interested in joining the CWI network, get in touch! The CWI network includes multidisciplinary researchers across the Schools of Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Languages and Law.
The Grand Challenge on Rapid Urbanisation will establish Think Deep Australia, led by Dr Marilu Melo Zurita, to explore how we can use our urban underground spaces for community benefit.
On the 21 August 2020, CWI researchers made a submission to the National Water Reform Inquiry, identifying priority areas and making a number of recommendations as to how to achieve a sustainable groundwater future for Australia.
Results published from a research project between the Land Development Department (LDD) Thailand and UNSW has demonstrated how 2-dimensional mapping can be used to understand soil salinity adjacent to a earthen canal in north east Thailand (Khongnawang et al. 2020).