Category: Water

The world’s fresh water supplies are almost fully exploited.Almost al, 97 per cent, of the world’s water is salt. Of the fresh water in the world, two thirds is locked up as ice and snow (the cryosphere – to you and me, kid!). Globally, three quarters of the water that is used is used by agriculture. India, China and the United States, use more fresh water than is available. The water level in those nation’s aquifers is falling as a result.The current food crisis has come about largely as a result as the shortfall in available water begins to impact on the cost of irrigation. 

Farmers trade water to stay afloat

admin /23 May, 2009

Water traders in the Murrumbidgee region of the Murray-Darling Basin purchased the largest net volume of water in 2006/07, research by the nation’s commodity forecaster shows.

The research by the Australian Bureau of Agriculture Resource Economics (ABARE) also shows the Murrumbidgee region irrigated the largest area of land during the same period.

On average, net buyers in the Murrumbidgee region purchased the largest volume of irrigation water – 460 megalitres per farm – while net buyers in the Goulburn-Broken region purchased the lowest.

Poltical stupidity and hydrocommerce madness

admin /20 May, 2009

Political stupidity and hydrocommerce madness
Water is a unique public commodity, but the New South Wales Government is opening the
Sydney and Hunter water markets to multinational privateers, writes lawyer Kellie Tranter.
Posted Fri May 15, 2009 2:12pm AEST
Updated Fri May 15, 2009 2:18pm AEST
 
In a country where water is becoming more scarce, has the NSW
Government properly explained its water legislation? (ABC News)
Map: Sydney 2000
 
“As the most essential life-sustaining substance and the most critical input to economies around the globe, water is the only commodity that has absolutely no substitute at any price. This fundamental fact creates an intractable demand for water and has historically made global hydrocommerce a stable, non-cyclical, low-risk investment.” – Summit Global Management

Acidic water could be the final straw

admin /18 May, 2009

Acidic water could be the final straw

 Verity Edwards and Pia Akerman | May 18, 2009

Article from:  The Australian

FIRST it was salt, now it is acid preventing farmers at Currency Creek and along the Finniss River from using Murray River water.

While it may have been a blessing at the time, heavy rains last month have mobilised acid in exposed soil beds in sections of South Australia’s Lower Lakes, sparking warnings to keep livestock away from the two tributaries and fears the flowing water could have an impact on the health of local landowners.

For dairy farmer Don Galpin, the increased acidification could not have come at a worse time.

Mr Galpin, who runs his family’s 100-year-old farm on the banks of Currency Creek, has spent the past three years battling drought, falling milk prices, a doubling of feed costs and being forced to buy water to ensure it is of a high enough quality to run his business.

Feds detail water savings for southern irrigators

admin /16 May, 2009

The irrigators of Australia’s fresh food bowl in the Murray and Murrumbidgee river basins have been offered $300million to assist them become more efficient in their use of water. The details of the federal government’s On-farm Irrigation Efficiency Program were made public last week. The scheme will buy part of a farmer’s water allocation to finance the efficiency improvements that will free up the water that has been purchased. The program is one component of the $5.8billion Water for the Future initiative.

Maude mad about Murray damage

admin /3 May, 2009

Advisor to the United Nations on water, Maude Barlow, last week announced a ban on the sale of bottled water from municipal facilities during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Bottled water has recently been implicated in increased levels of estrogen in the human population but it is the commodification of water that has made Continue Reading →

Bottled water pumps up female hormones

admin /2 May, 2009

Men raised on the notion that going without a drink for long periods of time is a sign of toughness will feel vindicated by the results of a German study that shows bottled water contains an estrogen like compound. The study tested both yeast grown on water stored in PET bottles and snails cultured on a soil like medium in the bottles. In both cases the estrogen like compounds affected the fertility of the animals. Martin Wagner, lead researcher in the project at Goethe University now drinks tap water because of the results of the study. An epidemiologist from Rochester University, Shanna Swan, told the Discovery Channel, “this is another nail in the coffin for plastic drink bottles.” Glass bottles did not show the effect.

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