•  Everybody seems to be

talking about water. And

it’s no wonder why. Just
have a quick look at
what’s happening with
our water here in
Western Australia.

•  Australian households
(and that includes us in
Western Australia) use
the most water per
household in the world!
WA
The average
person in Perth
might use up to
341,000 litres
(that’s around
eight backyard
swimming pools)
worth of water
each year!

Rest of world
The world average is 57,000 litres!
We’re nearly using six-times as
much water as most of the other
people on the planet!
•  How can it be that we
use so much water?

•  Well we do use a fair bit

of water around the
house, washing the
dishes, watering the
garden, cleaning our
clothes and flushing the
toilet.
•  But we are getting much, much better at saving water
at home. So how come we're still using so much
more water than the rest of the world?

•  It turns out that a lot of the water that we use we don’t

even know we are using. We can’t even see this
water that we use. What are we talking about?
•  Almost everything we use
and eat needs water to be
produced. It’s not written
on the label and we can’t
see this water in the
clothes that we wear or in
the food that we eat. We
don’t even get the chance
to drink it!
•  But it was needed to make
the clothes and the food,
and so it still counts
towards the total amount
of water that we use. We
call this water ‘Virtual
Water’.
•  What is 'virtual water'? Well we think it means the
water that is hidden in our food or other products that
we use. It means the water that was needed to grow
or make our food or those products that we use.

•  For example, it’s the water that was used to grow the
wheat that was used to make the flour for the bread
that you ate for breakfast today. And the butter that
you spread on your bread? Well, to make the butter
the cows that gave the milk needed to be given water
for drinking, and needed food to eat, and this food
needed water to grow.
•  So you’re probably
thinking that it can’t be
that much water that
goes into making all the
stuff that we eat and
consume.

•  Well, actually, it is quite

a lot. Look at the
following list of products
and look at how much
water each one uses.
•  1 glass of milk (200ml) - 75 litres
•  1 slice of bread (30g) - 40 litres
•  1 slice of bread (30g) with cheese (10g) - 90 litres
•  1 apple (100g) - 70 litres
•  1 glass of orange juice (200ml) - 170 litres
•  1 bag of potato chips (200g) - 185 litres
•  1 egg (40g) - 135 litres
•  1 hamburger (150g) - 2,400
•  1 pair of leather shoes - 8,000 litres
•  1 cotton t-shirt - 2,000 litres
•  1 sheet A4 paper - 10 litres
•  1 microchip - 32 litres
•  1kilogram of beef - 16,000 litres
•  So that’s where a lot of our water goes. But that’s not
all. Our water supplies lately have been getting lower
and lower. The picture on the next slide shows
Western Australia’s rainfall over the last three years.

•  You will see that many parts of Western Australia

have recorded some very low rainfalls while other
parts have recorded high rainfalls. The red shows the
places with the least rainfall while the blue shows the
places with the most.
 Rainfall in
Western
Australia for
the last three
years
•  Why have these water levels been dropping? Well as
you probably already know, we’ve been having a very
bad drought for quite some time now: about 10 years
actually.
•  The problem is that it looks
like this might not just be a
drought, but might actually
be the first signs of climate
change. More and more
scientists now believe that
Western Australia’s climate
patterns are changing.

•  This means that the dry

spell that we’re having
might never really end:
instead, this might be the
new climate.
•  According to CSIRO this will affect:

–  The ability of irrigators to produce food;

–  The natural environment and its plants and animals in our
cities and our rural regions;
–  The performance and practices of businesses and
industries; and
–  The natural or environmental flows in our rivers and
wetlands.
•  On top of that, the water
that we do have is
getting more polluted.

•  You’ve probably seen

rubbish floating in the
river or creek. This is
pretty bad for our
waterways. But there are
also tiny bits of pollution
that are sometimes
impossible to see but
that are really, really bad
for our water.
•  Where might these tiny bits of pollution come from?
•  The tiny bits of pollution
can be found in the and
grease that run-off the
streets in the rain, they
can come from leaking
sewage pipes, from
accidental spills by
factories, and from cow
and dog poo washing
into the rivers and
creeks.
•  This can start to sound a lot like very bad news. But
don’t worry; it’s not all bad.

•  There are lots and lots of people all around the world
working hard to make sure that we’ll have enough
water to drink and grow food with, and the water that
we have is clean and healthy.
•  One idea some people have
had for making more water
has been to recycle sewage
and turn it into water that
can be used around the
house and used in
businesses.
•  You may have heard that
this was a recent hot issue
over in Queensland.
•  The town of Toowoomba
recently rejected a proposal
to drink recycled sewage:
even if it was clean, would
you drink recycled sewage?
•  So maybe you’re not quite
ready to drink recycled
sewage. But there are many
other things you can do to
help save water and protect
our waterways.

•  Start by thinking about what

you would most like to see
happen or change: what
would that be? How do you
think you go about making
that happen? What little
things could you do to help
you reach that goal?
•  Using the Cool Green Hero Checklist that we have
provided, or using one that you have created
yourself, think up at least two actions around water
that will help our environment and that you think
you can achieve within the next six months.
•  Write down a few
sentences for each cool
green action that
describes what you hope
to do. If you’re a bit stuck
for ideas, have a look at
the next slide for some of
the tips that we’re doing
to to save water.
 Tips for saving water
•  Fix any dripping taps or leaky toilets. A leaking tap can waste as
much as "
•  20,000 litres of water a year. Enough said. "
•  Likewise the dual-flush toilet. If itʼs yellow let it mellow, if itʼs brown
flush it down - with a half flush. "
•  While weʼre being short but sweet, take shorter showers. "
•  And obviously, turn off the tap while youʼre brushing your teeth. We
know you know, but youʼd be amazed... "
•  Install a rainwater tank! Your roof is more efficient than a dry dam
catchment and youʼll save on water bills. "
•  Save some shower water and share it with the lawn. Or the street
trees in front of your house. "
•  For more tips and more information on water visit the Our Cool
School site.
•  Did we forget any? Send us your tips and we’ll post them on the
Our Cool School website!