Public lecture to the Australian Academy of Science in the wonderful Shine Dome in Canberra on 4 November 2009. A big picture look at the policy and science integration challenges across water, energy, carbon, food and health against a background of climate chaos and a looming oil crunch.
9. Melbourne’s Annual Storage Inflow GL (1913-2007) In Victoria, last 7 years the driest 7 years since records have been kept. Inflows to Melbourne storages since 1997 35% lower than prior to 1997.
21. Water, energy, and GDP from Proust, Dovers, Foran, Newell, Steffen & Troy (2007) Energy & GDP Water & GDP Water and energy have historically been closely coupled with GDP in Australia Our challenge now is to radically reduce the energy, carbon and water-intensity of our economy
THESE ISSUES ARE NOT UNIQUE TO THE MURRAY DARLING BASIN. PERTH HAS BEEN THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE FOR DECLINING WATER AVAILABILITY. THIS GRAPH IS SIMILAR TO THE EARLIER ONE FOR THE MDB. IT TRACKS THE INFLOW TO PERTH’S STORAGES SINCE 1911. THE GREEN LINE REPRESENTS THE AVERAGE ANNUAL INFLOW OF 338GL FROM 1911 TO 1974. INCREDIBLY, NOT A SINGLE YEAR SINCE 1974 HAS REACHED THAT PREVIOUS LONG TERM AVERAGE. THE 20 YEARS FROM 1975 TO 1996 SAW AN AVERAGE INFLOW OF 177GL - JUST OVER HALF THE PREVIOUS AVERAGE. JUST AS IN THE MDB, THE CURRENT DROUGHT IS EVEN WORSE AGAIN, WITH THE AVERAGE NOW DROPPING TO AROUND 100GL PER YEAR - LESS THAN ONE THIRD OF WHAT IT WAS FOR MOST OF LAST CENTURY.