Darren Chua 10G

Darren Chua, 10G

Water Management

What is Water and why is it important?

A clear, colorless, odorless, and tasteless liquid, essential for most plant, animal and human beings and the most widely used of all solvents. Water is basically what we normally use and drink in daily basis which is considered as the most important substance in our body and to the environment.

1. What is the issue, where does it occur in Australia and why is it a problem?

Water Management is one of the biggest problems that Australia is facing currently. Despite the current flood events that is happening in Australia it has one of the lowest and most erratic rainfalls of the continents and has the highest capital water storage of all other countries, it is still hard to manage big quantity of water. There are a lot of issues about water in Australia; one of them is salinity and swamps. Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water which means the quality of water is poor and makes it a big problem in Australia. This is because people who depend on rivers for their use or living things which uses it as a lifesource is now very hard for them to use as the quality of rivers are badly polluted by rubbish, oil, acids, chemicals, salt and soil from farms. For example Murray Darling River is contaminated, meaning that it is polluted that species cannot live and it is unsafe for human consumption. Living organism in rivers is unable to survive as the condition of the water is bad. If this continues, these living organisms will not be able to reproduce and become extinct which will affect the entire life cycle for every plant, animals and humans. However, artificially raised water levels have attacked the swamps and they are dried off. So it affects the species and plants which live in swamps A River in Australia. to continue their part on the circle of life. This problem normally occurs in the south part of Australia as it is known for its dry weather. But basically Australia is known to have dry weathers.

[Contaminated by waste and rubbish]

Darren Chua, 10G

Water Management

2. Find some statistical information relevant to the geographical issue and resent it and analyze it appropriately.

Queensland Water use. *my own graph Mr.B Darren* Industrial Others
Urban 14% 7% 1%

Irrigation 78%

The pie chart is basically about how Australia which is divided in 4 sections use water. This chart is pretty normal I guess simply it is just a simple chart and the results are expected. The reasons are: Irrigation is mainly use in farming, for example, watering crops with water instead of using the rain. Where else I think, water shouldn t be used in this category as we can give crops water by rain unless drought happens. Also, this pie chart shows that water is also used in urban areas which mean that they are using water at a reasonable rate. On to industrial, we see this actually shows that the government have done quite a good job in having industries to use as little water as possible. This pie chart was motivating to analyze as it s a dry state and as well as it is known for drought. Even though drought often happens, it shows that they are using the water available deliberately. It is just that they are using more than too much on irrigation mindlessly.

Darren Chua, 10G

Water Management

3. Provide a detailed example of this issue and explain how the issue was dealt with.

The Yarra River, meaning `Running River` in Aboriginal language is located in Victoria and it has been victim of pollution. The Yarra River is an important resource for people in their life and recently has been polluted as usual by dangerous chemicals, oil, waste and rubbish which makes hard for people to use the water that comes from river. According to the reports, companies have been caught by the local councils and organizations because they were disposing waste into Yarra River and other rivers or lakes.They were fined heftily for their actions as it was against the law. Some organizations and the government have drawn up programs to educate the necessity to minimize water pollution for the sake of the earth and environment.

Yarra River, Victoria Ingenious rubbish trap invented/created to trap rubbish.

4. What can individuals, groups and governments do to solve the issue?

In my opinion, individuals can do their part by encouraging reuse, recycle and reduce which are the 3Rs. They can also educate their children at home by showing them a good example. This should be emphasized in schools should start practices that will make the students aware and be more cautious about the environment. Companies can help to solve this issue also by encouraging their staff members to reduce usage of paper or to recycle which will greatly reduce materials from being wasted. Governments should implement heavy fines for those who go against the law and give incentives to those who supports and help to reduce pollution. Governments should show that they are serious about saving the environment and show good examples like having a campaign to clear rubbish from rivers and lakes. Some of the current laws that have been implements are: No Plastic Bag Days, Recycling bins giving money or vouchers for the return of recyclables. Also, governments should advertise constantly in all the media to show people the impact of pollution to the earth. Governments shoud also get help from celebrities to promote environment safety. This is a reminder that if we do not adhere to the laws and help reduce pollution, the future generations will suffer because of our inconsideration.