SOUTH Australia’s water sector needs renewed support for its world-leading aquifer recharge expertise and increasingly lucrative export deals, according to industry leaders.
While the millennium drought resulted in an explosion in funding for water research and a new desalination plant for the state, she said this commitment dropped away once rain fell.
“I think the feeling is we are not going to run out of water and everything is fairly safe and a lot of other things are more front of mind,” she said.
Leading national water scientist John Williams upped concerns, with plans to tell a Goyder Institute for Water Research Water Forum in Adelaide on July 4 and July 5 that Australia’s water security was hanging in the balance.
He believed governments appeared to be “asleep at the wheel” at a time when they should be preparing for the next drought and building the nation’s resilience against climate change.
Water Industry Alliance chief executive Rachel Barratt, who will be among 200 delegates expected at the conference across industry, government and academia, also warned against the state becoming complacent.
She believed cutting edge research around water and around its related high power use must be supported.
“The global water market is growing beyond other markets,” said Ms Barratt, whose alliance included 120 water-related organisations.
“By 2020 it is expected to value over one trillion US dollars.
This trend will only continue as the world grapples with how to provide safe, clean and adequate water to its population.” The alliance was attracting extensive interest from India and China in buying SA water expertise, with an agreement signed in August last year with the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara to establish a new water centre of excellence in Jaipur.