ATS2545 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Virtual Water, Water Cycle, Surface Irrigation
25 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 1 – Introduction
International trade
• Importing rain water
• Australia exports virtual water
• Asia virtual water independent
• Importing pollution problem for ourselves as we export
Brisbane floods 2011
• Problematic: water not useful for hydrological cycle
• Desalination plants boost green house effect
Water Use
• 450 liters/day (Melbourne)
• Need: ~50 litres per day
Environmental Hydrology
• Hydrology is the formal study of water (in all states – solid, liquid and gas)
o The flow of water and roles of water in the environment
• Measurement of rainfall
• Speed and volume of flow
• Composition of water (metals, pesticides or nutrients)
• Evaporative losses from growing a crop
• Ways of delivering water by irrigation in most water-efficient manner
• Distribution of water as a resource
• Role of water in climate classification and in weathering or erosional agent
Lecture 2 – Global Hydrology and Water Resources
• > 1 billion people in developing countries lack access to safe drinking water
• > 2 billion people lack adequate water for sanitation
• Water scarcity leads to
o Basin closures
o Impacts on streams and biota
o Over exploitation of groundwater
o Societal and economic problems (e.g. economic growth slowed)
Drivers of water scarcity
• Population growth = rising demand – water, food
• Economic development = rising demand
• Climate change
• Need to produce high-volume bio-fuel crops
• Move to urban centres (e.g. system leakage, evaporative building cooling
towers)
• Tree plantations (paper, carbon offset planting)
Water footprint
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