Australia

Australia

1. Climate Change

   • It is believed that climate change was the main reason as to why conditions in Australia were getting drier and drought is getting worse.

2. How is Australia coping?

   • A national plan for water security was put in place in 2007 to ensure that rural water use become sustainable. This was put in place because it was predicted that the the amount of water flowing into the Murray-Darling river basin would decrease further.

3. Their Plan

   • Modernising Irrigation (was needed because a lot of water was lost on the farm because of over watering or before it reached the farm)
     • Piping or lining channels and adopting more efficient water methods.
     • Adopting more accurate water meters to improve measurement and reduce over watering.
     • Improving river operations and storage management e.g. reducing water evaporation.
   • Addressing over-allocation in the Murray-Darling river Basin (was needed because over allocation of water meant that water availability was declining)
     • Parts of irrigation schemes which are not viable will be identified and retired e.g. in salt effected areas.
     • Farmers will be given help to leave the industry.
     • Water will be saved to manage and restore rivers in the Murray-Darling river Basin.

4. Changing Farming

   • Drought Tolerant Crops - are being designed through government funding.
   • Crop and Pasture Management - to conserve water in different water regions.
   • Precision Farming - using satelite info to estimate how much crops are growing in certain areas.
   • GPS - used for accurate sowing of seeds and guides the tractor.

5. Desalination Plants

   • In 2007, the government in Victoria announced their plans to build the worlds largest desalination plant near Melbourne.
   • Small Dams - small dam suggestions to be built near parks in order to store water to be used on parks and open spaces to capture and reuse water.