WATER-WISE?

In the 1960's I went to school in Ralph Jacobi's electorate: bless his river-loving soul. Every classroom had a water-wise poster. We were drilled that we lived “in the driest state of the driest continent.” (Unpopulated Antarctica didn't count.) We were taught how we relied on the River Murray for our water supply. SA Water says that these days, the River Murray supplies in an average year "about 40% of the State’s urban water needs." In drought, it supplies "as much as 90%." [Pipelines, SA Water, http://www.sawater.com.au/SAWater/Education/OurWaterSystems/Pipelines.htm]

With our recent record drought, there's record low flows coming down the River. Big big problem for us here on the Narrung Peninsula! But, I reckon the solution lies in the obvious: Water.

In Australia, areas with higher average incomes use more water. This is true too for the world. The average Gambian uses only 4.5 litres per day, while an Australian uses 930. When may forebear was carting water, South Australians made do with no more than16 litres a day, estimates Maureen M Leadbeater. ["Water: South Australia's Early Days." http://www.adelaideco-op.familyhistorysa.info/water.html]And while the global annual average rainfall is 746mm, the average rainfall in Australia is 469mm, South Australia 236mm. [http://www.savewater.com.au/index.php?sectionid=42]

Every living cell needs water to live. 75% of a living tree is water. 75% of the human brain is water. Of the more than 15 million chemical species presently known, water is unique and far more complex than the formula H20 suggests. Water has a great ability to attract atoms from other substances, due to the electrical charges on its molecules. This enables water to act as a solvent in the body. The purer it is, the more essential nutrients, like magnesium, calcium, iodine, selenium and zinc, it can carry to the cells; or the more toxins, including mercury, lead and cadmium, it can carry away. Water plays the same role in the body we call the Earth. 71% of the planet's surface is covered by water, mostly too salty to drink. About 3% is fresh enough to drink. 1 billion people lack enough safe, clean drinking water. Water is so valuable that the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment declared that it must be "safeguarded for the benefit of present and future generations through careful planning or management, as appropriate." Principle 2, 16 June 1972, Stockholm.

Healthy water flows. Hoarded water suffers and sickens. It accrues pathogens and pollutants. "Water quality," observes Juergen Scmidt, "is directly affected by the flow of co-operative energies circulating between people, animals, insects, and plants through out the ecosystem." . [The Hidden Forces of Nature, p38.]

Back in 2005, Austalian scientists demonstrated that people massacring trees reduces rainfall. Apparently, one in every 500 water molecules has its second hydrogen atom swapped for a heavier deuterium version. The heavier water molecules are slower to evaporate from rivers and groundwater, but the leaves of plants and trees, through transpiration, give them off more readily. Less trees: less rain! It's another reason to protect Australia's forests. [Richard Macey, "Fewer trees, less rain: study uncovers deforestation equation," http://www.smh.com.au/news/Environment/Fewer-trees-less-rain-the-deforestation-equation/2005/03/03/1109700611592.html]

The Narrung Peninsula knows all too well the problems deforestation causes to hydrology. It lies in the Coorong District Council where only 19% of native vegetation remains. Dryland salinity has affected 50,000 ha with a further 70,000 at risk. 12,000 ha are irrigated. ["Coorong District Council," http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/publications/incentives-forum/pubs/day3/coorong-paper.pdf] Wide-scale reforestation is not a simple solution. Trees need water to get established. Plantation water-use varies greatly, show CSIRO studies in South Australia.[CSIRO, "Measuring the water use of plantation trees" http://www.csiro.au/science/MeasuringPlantationWaterUse.html]
Water, or lack of it, isn't our region's problem. It is our behaviour!

It's time decision-makers stop behaving like feudal dukes guarding their own interests. For a healthy river, Country needs sociable behaviour. The Save The River Murray Levy, added to every one's SA Water bill since 2003, is an example of sociable behaviour towards our precious source of water. Rubbing shoulders at recent water meetings and rallies around the Lower Lakes were government boffins, irrigators, yachties, greenies, First Peoples and polies. People you just don't expect to see together are coming together, all for the need of water.

So, who stands out as the wisest when it comes to the River Murray? Who are the healers and who are the hoarders?

Eisd ri gaoth nam beann gus an traoigh na h-uisgeachan. Listen to the mountain wind, till the streams abate. [Gaelic seanfhocail, old words: proverb]