9.6.2 How is water used in Australia? Agriculture is key in Australia and uses a lot of water. About 70 per cent of our fresh water is used as irrigation for farming. Many crops grown in dry areas is lost due to evaporation or soaks too low into the ground.
TABLE1 Fresh water used to irrigate different crops in Australia Crop type Water (gigalitres) % Livestock, pasture, grains and other agriculture 8795 56 Cotton 1841 12 Rice 1643 11 Sugar 1236 8 Fruit 704 5 Grapes 649 4 Vegetables 635 4 Note: One gigalitre = 1 000 000 000 litres or one thousand million litres or 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools 9.6.3 What is virtual water? Water is often a ‘hidden’ ingredient in making things like clothes, food and other products. For example, a hamburger ‘hides’ 2400 litres of water used to grow feed for cattle, wheat for the bun and all the other ingredients. The term virtual water refers to all the water used to produce goods and services, which is part of our water footprint . In places like Australia, Africa and Asia, which often don’t have enough water, exporting food and products also means exporting precious water.
FIGURE4 Australia is one of the most irrigated countries in the world.
FIGURE5 Water used to wash citrus fruits
9.6.4 Water, water everywhere? Wouldn’t it be amazing if anyone, no matter where they were in the world, could simply turn on a tap to watch high-quality drinking water pour out? Wouldn’t it be incredible if every farmer in the world knew exactly when and how much it was going to rain so that they could plan their planting cycles accordingly? Unfortunately, this is far from reality for millions of people around the world, and tens of thousands of people in Australia as well. In communities across the world, significant variability exists in the amount of water that is available and accessible. Before an investigation of issues such as drought, flooding and other meteorological hazards can be conducted, it is necessary to discuss the following different but connected terms: water variability, water availability and accessibility, and water scarcity. 9.6.5 Water variability The amount of rainfall a location receives can vary significantly, and depends on a number of seasonal and environmental factors. Locations can often see inconsistency in the amount of rain received across a range of time frames. This is known as water variability, and is most severe in locations that experience extreme environmental conditions. Australia experiences a particularly high degree of water variability. This fact itself may not surprise you, especially if you live along Australia’s eastern coast. However, you
TOPIC9 Water in the world 273
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