Why Save Water?
Multicultural Community Education Project

Why learn about water?
Water supply is limited in Australia
We live with drought
Water costs money
Youth use the most water
So there is enough for future generations
To educate others

Australia is known as “The Dry
Continent”
What do you think the reason for this is?
In Australia we have less than 50 days of rain a year.
The low water supply is also a result of high temperatures and
evaporation.
Much of Australia also consists of large areas of desert.
The low rainfall and not enough natural mountain barriers to catch
the water when it falls means many parts of the country are often dry.
Drought occurs often in Australia these are months/ years of
prolonged and abnormally dry periods where there is not enough water for
users normal needs.
In Australia, South Australia is known as the driest state on the driest
continent.

Australia is not the only place
where water is a problem!
Can you think of
some other countries
where there is not
enough water for
people to use or
where water is difficult
to access?
What do people from
other countries have
to do to get water?

What costs more 1litre of milk or
1000 litres of water?
1000 litres of water costs around 50 cents

How important is water?
What do we use water for?
What of these uses could we do without?
Which are essential to life?
What other things need water to live?

What is a water cycle?

Planet Earth or Planet Water?
Water makes up
about 75% of the
planet
Approximately 3% of
which is fresh water
The remaining 97% is
salt water

Where in the world is all the fresh
water?
Of the 3% of fresh water
available
2/3 of it is locked away
as ice and snow.
Leaving just 1%
available in the entire
world for human use.
*demonstration

So where is Australia’s fresh
water ?
Water in Australia can be
found in a number of
places, in Rivers,
Streams, Creeks, Lakes,
Reservoirs, and also
from underground such
as aquifers and the Great
Artesian Basin.
All of these require
rainfall or melting snow to
recharge their supply.
Hume Dam, Victoria

So where does our water in South
Australia come from ?
In a drought year up to 90% of our water in
Adelaide is sourced from the River Murray
The rest comes from our reservoirs
such as Mt Bold and Kangaroo Creek.
The River Murray is a major source of water for many regions in Australia
consider this, in 1 day of average flow of the Amazon River is equal to about
1 whole year of flow for the River Murray

The River Murray Urban Users Local Action Planning
Committee Inc.
The River Murray Urban Users Local Action
Planning Committee Inc. (RMUUC), now operating
its many projects under the MurrayCare™ banner,
is one of eleven local action planning groups that
are working to address River Murray natural
resource management issues from a local
perspective in South Australia. Local action
planning is an initiative of the Murray-Darling Basin
Commission and it enables the local community to
determine priorities for action to address natural
resource management issues in the Murray-
Darling Basin.
RMUUC is the only group that focuses on areas
outside the Basin that use River Murray water.
The River Murray Urban Users region includes
metropolitan Adelaide and all urban and rural
areas outside the Murray-Darling Basin that
receive piped River Murray Water. This includes
Yorke Peninsula, the Northern Spencer Gulf cities,
the Mid-North and some towns in the upper South
East, including Keith. The River Murray Urban
Users Region overlaps five of the eight Natural
Resource Management regions across South
Australia.

Get Water Wise!
 How much water does it take to make 1 newspaper?
50 litres
 How much water does a toilet use full flush?
10 litres
 How many litres of water are used to make a 100g chocolate bar?
1 litre
 How much water would an average garden sprinkler use in 3 minutes?
50 litres
 How much water is used for an average bath?
150 litres
 How many litres of water does it take to make 1 glass of milk?
1000 litres
 How much water is wasted if we leave the tap running while brushing our teeth?
5 litres a minute
 How much water is used to make a 100 gram steak?
9000 litres
 How much water does it take to make 1 cup of rice?
235 litres

Water Use
Who uses the most water industry
(factories) or homes?
Households use over ½ of our water
supply
Where do you think the most water is
used inside a home?
40% Garden & Outdoors
20% Bathroom
11% Toilet
16% Laundry
11% Kitchen
2% Other

Saving water in your home
Dual Flush Toilets
These are one of the
easiest ways to save
water because it gives
you a ½ flush or a full
flush option.
Old single flush toilets
use up to 16 litres a flush
New dual flush toilets use
as little as 3 litres a flush

What you can do to save water?
Turn off the tap
Fix any leaks
Only turn appliances on when
load is full Use a shower timer
Plant Australian native
plants, they need less
water
Install a AAA rated
shower head
Fit a trigger nozzle
To your hose
Buy appliances with a Install a Rainwater
high star rating, these use tank
less water

Water Restrictions
Many of Australia’s states now have water restrictions.
Do you know what our water restrictions are in South Australia?
Current water restrictions include:
You must restrict the days you water your garden to once a week, for 3 hours only,
using either, drippers, hand held hoses or hoses with trigger nozzles fitted.
The day you can water depends on the number of your house
Even numbered houses- Saturday Odd numbered houses- Sunday
11 12 1
Between 11 12 1
10 2
10 2
9 AM 3 7am- 10am PM
9 3
8 4 Or
7 5 8 4
6 4pm- 7pm 7 5
6
You can water your garden on any day if you use a watering can or bucket.
Other types of watering systems such as sprinklers are not allowed.

Water Restrictions
You cannot hose down concrete, paving, decking,
walls or roofs except in the case of a fire.
Ponds, fountains and water features that don’t
recycle water must not be operated unless they
support fish.
You can top these up with a hose with a trigger
nozzle but you cannot refill these if they are empty.
You cannot refill an empty pool
or spa unless you have a permit.
Children's wading pools can be
filled with up to 250 litres of water
Washing cars and boats can
only be done at a car wash or
from a bucket filled directly from a
tap. (You cannot use a hose)
People with boats can flush
out motors and rinse metal parts
to prevent corrosion.
For further information see the SA Water website at
www.sawater.com.au

Thank- you

References
Bureau of Meteorology, Living with drought. Retrieved January 23, 2008,
from http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/drought/livedrought.shtml
Murray Care http://www.murrayusers.sa.gov.au)
On the trail of Clean Water, a resource for teachers and students. 2001,
S.A. Water, Adelaide .
S.A. Water, Saving Water In Your Home. Retrieved January 23, 2008, from
http://www.sawater.com.au/Water/YourHome/SaveWaterInYourHome.html
Chandra-Shekeran, K & Pham, T 2005, Youth Water Training Program,
Western Young People’s Independent Network (WYPIN), VIC.
Contact: www.vicnet.au/~wypin