Credit: John Bull/COSMOS
In 2002, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that "Fierce national competition over water resources has prompted fears that water issues contain the seeds of violent conflict." Since then, the U.N. has backed away from the suggestion of all-out warring over water, but maintains the situation is nonetheless grave. In a report released to celebrate World Water Day 2006 (March 22), the U.N. said, "Conflicts occur, in particular, between users sharing the same resource - a situation often exacerbated by traditional values, customs and practices, historical factors and geographical vagaries."
Singapore is one country that has seen the writing on the wall. It sources most of its water from neighbouring Malaysia. Like many neighbours, they have the occasional squabble. So, to ensure the squabbles never resulted in a threat to Singaporeans' water, the tiny country decided to make itself less reliant on its neighbour. It calls this the 'Four Taps' policy.
It has built a desalination plant to extract fresh water from the sea, as well as a high-tech wastewater recycling plant, NEWater, which supplies some of the city-state's drinking water. The other two 'taps' are the traditional local reservoirs, and the supply from Malaysia.
It's not just Singapore that is forging a new path. Australia, with its pressing need for water solutions, is exploring a range of ideas that could one day be exported. John Radcliffe, a commissioner for Australia's National Water Commission, describes Australia as "having the scope" to lead the world in water innovation. Because Australia is so dry, and its situation so dire, it could prove a harbinger of things to come globally.
The European Union is so interested in Australia's work, it is funding some of the research. On the northern edge of Adelaide, the area of the City of Salisbury is a flat, dull plain. It is here, amongst the saltpans and industrial estates that the E.U. is closely watching a project instigated by the local government, under the leadership of Colin Pitman. Director of city projects at the council, Pitman has been devising schemes to capture, clean and reuse stormwater for 25 years.
He's a rotund man with a white beard and a twinkle in his eye. Even without wearing a shred of red cloth, his resemblance to Santa Claus is remarkable. His schemes utilise a porous layer of rock that holds water under the Salisbury plains, known as an aquifer. Pitman stores the water collected after a storm in this aquifer and pumps it out later when the council needs it. Working with the South Australian Water Corporation (SA Water), and several other partners - including the E.U. - the council is now experimenting with injecting treated stormwater into the aquifer in one location and pumping it out in another. This 'aquifer storage, transfer and recovery' system holds promise for Berlin, as the German capital is so dependant on its groundwater supply for drinking. They are watching to see how the water quality changes during its time underground.
Pitman said he considers it "important that other councils in Adelaide, across Australia and worldwide, pick up the techniques proven by the City of Salisbury, adapted to their own specific local conditions, of course."
The project is just one of many ideas being test-driven in Salisbury. Dependent on the grubby Murray River, and acutely aware of Adelaide's status as the driest state in the driest continent, the municipality is working towards utilising every drop of rain that falls on its district.
Salisbury is famous in the water industry for its innovation. But it is only one of many clever schemes being implemented across Australia. New South Wales has its BASIX scheme, in which all new houses are required to reduce demand for water dramatically, and other states have similar programs. The way Australians are charged for water has changed in recent years, encouraging thrift. Western Australia is looking into aquifer storage and recovery of treated wastewater too, and they have famously elected to build a giant desalination plant at Kwinana, a major industrial area south of Perth.
But the concept that is causing the most buzz of all, and the most controversy, is the reuse of treated wastewater.
