Analyze the Water Resource Management in Australia

Executive summary

This report aims to analyze the water resource management in Australia. After several decades’ development, Australia government has developed a complete water resource management system. This report has stated that Australia is one of the world’s most water-scarce countries. Faced with the increasing demand of water in domestic, this report has reviewed the water management system in the aspects of water resource management system, river basin management, and water conservancy project, the administration on water right and water price policy. At last, the report has suggested that Australia should make more policies on sustainability, protection of water environment and high efficiency of water resources.

Table of contents

Executive summary        

1.        Introduction        

2.        Background        

3.        Situation analysis        

4.        Environmental management and planning in Australia        

4.1 Water resource management system        

4.2 River basin management        

4.3 Water Conservancy project        

4.4 The administration on water right        

4.5 Water price policy        

5.        Conclusion        

6.        Recommendations        

7.        Reference        

1. Introduction

Environment is a compound ecological system which is closely related with human sustainability. In broad sense, ecological environment refers to water and land resources, climatic resources and biological resources. With the fast development of social productivity, the ecological environment problems have become more and more visible in present world. To be specific, during human beings’ practice of production and living, kinds of pollution and damage have been negatively influenced the ecological environment which result in water loss and soil erosion, global warming so that global ecological balance system will be broke. So does Australia. As an island country, the water resource problem has become obvious. This report will firstly present the background of its water resources, followed by situation analysis. In addition, its environmental management and planning will be also analyzed. At last, an overall conclusion and suggestions will be provided on water resource management.

1. Background

Water resource is vital for the survival and development for a country or region. Water is the source of human lives. However, fresh water which can irrigate all things on earth only accounts for 3% of the entire water source and only 1% can be used by human beings. The mainland of Australia is about 7.69 million square kilometer which is the largest island with only about 20 million populations. The eastern mountainous area, central plain terrain and eastern plateau area, the annual gross surface runoff is about 440 billion square kilometer and efficient surface water available is about 117 billion square kilometer. Now it has used 15 billion square kilometer which accounts for 13% of the exploitation amount. The underground water reserves can be estimated about 132 billion square kilometer and now it has used 2.5 billion square kilometers. And most Australians live in the east along the Pacific Ocean (Al-Jayyousi, 2003). Although Australia is surrounded by sea, it is located in the driest island with only 469mm average rainfalls every year. Compared with the average rainfall of 746mm, Australia’s annual rainfall capacity is quite small. The seemly endless and inexhaustible water resource is quite precious actually. There are mainly two features of Australia’ water resources. Firstly, the average water resource amount per capita is high. With 18,743 square kilometer average water resource amount per capital, Australia ranks in the top 50 around the world. But with a vast land size and large evaporation capacity, Australia is also one of the world’s most water-scare countries (Loh., & Coghlan, 2003). Secondly, the water distribution is in disequilibrium. Different states seasons have different rainfalls. The cloud condensation mainly concentrates in winter and spring which occupy two thirds year round. And the interannual variation differs as well. Most rivers are seasonal. When looking back the history of water resource usage from 1995 to 2010, water used for livestock accounted 35%; agricultural water for 27% to 28%; industrial and other (mainly mining industry) accounted for 26% and municipal water for 12% (Reid., & Brooks, 2010).

1. Situation analysis

Compared with Australia’s limited water resource, the per capita water consumption is in the leading place which exceeds 1 million liter. The increasing population means increasing water consumption which brings about challenges for municipal water (Walker, 1985). With the industrial structure adjustment, the mining industry will consume more and more water resources. Based on the decreasing agricultural grain, the agricultural water must be increased as a result. How to stabilize the water consumption and gain effective water efficiency is a problem. In the recent years, Australia has experienced many droughts in many areas. The reservoir of inventories in Australia decreases sharply. Cities, such as Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra have implemented policies to limit water consumption (Mitchell, 2005). How to rationally use limited water resources and make it sustainable, Australia has adopted many effective measures to optimize water resource allocation and improve the efficiency of water resources which can guarantee environmentally protection water use and promote the harmonious development of resources, environment and society.