Water is critical for sustaining life. As well as its use in everyday life for drinking, washing, swimming, it sustains the life of the plants and animals, and represents an important input into Australia's economy, particularly agriculture.
Long-term drought in many parts of Australia have led to water restrictions, changing habits and the way many Australians regard water. Becoming more efficient in our water use is necessary to ensure our resources are sustainable.
Let's investigate water use and how the consumption and costs vary across Australia.
Where to get the information
Finding data about water availability and usage can be difficult. For Australian data and statistics, there’s two extremely useful resources that you should familiarise yourself with:
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Bureau of Meteorology
Australian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is the organisation that records key statistics on a range of indicators and issues. You can visit their website at www.abs.gov.au
Bureau of Meteorology
The Bureau of Meteorology provides weather services to Australia and keeps track of important data such as rainfall. Analysis of this data over time allows us to see how rainfall patterns have changed and compare weather patterns across the country. You can visit their website at www.bom.gov.au
State water bodies
Water in Australia is supplied by state and local government operated utility companies. Visit the website for the company in your area and you should find important information on costs of water, restrictions in the area and water saving tips.
State water corporation websites can be found through the following links:
New South Wales, Queensland, ACT, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory.
Many of the states have companies that manage smaller regions, it is worth researching which company supplies water in your area.
Using the websites given above and any other useful references you can find, research the following:
- What is the average cost of water per kL in your state?
- What is the average cost of water per kL in Australia?
- How does the consumption level per person compare in the different states?
- Do the states have very different levels of water consumption? What are some reasons that might account for this?
- How much water does an average household consume in your state?
- Find your household's water usage by looking at a water bill or estimate it using this calculator. How does your household use compare to the average?
- Investigate the use of rainwater tanks around Australia. What percentage of households use a tank? Which state has the highest rate of use?
- What is the average annual rainfall in your state?
- Did it rain on your birthday last year? On your 1st birthday?
- Are there water restrictions in your area? If so what are they? When did they come into effect?
There are many further investigations that can be carried out, such as comparing suburban water usage to city usage, comparing water used by different industries, where does your water come from, how does water quality compare in different areas, and so forth. Can you think of an interesting question to investigate?