The Anthropocene, rapid population growth, improved standard of living in developing countries, ever expanding agriculture and inefficient use of water is causing rapid change to water management across the world due to the increased demand for fresh water.
1 in 3 people that live on planet earth live without a household water connection and 800 million people lack access to safe water.
Climate change is increasing the odds there will be an increase in severe drought in many parts of World and this year scientists referred to the drought in the US as the worst drought in 1,200 years’.
In Australia we are already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, particularly changes associated with increases in temperature, frequency and intensity of heatwaves, severe weather events, intense fires and drought conditions.
Something is not right.
Can technology save us?
The desalination of saltwater is an example of a technocentric solution and there are now an estimated 20,000 desalination plants world-wide. In Australia there are 26 desalination plants with another several in the pipeline.
The rapid growth of desalination plants comes with much uncertainty and the water industry looks to become a major contributor to climate change via the significant energy usage required to operate desalination plants and the associated pollution.
The growing concern and uncertainty about the environmental impacts of desalination plants means it is critical that we continue to question if ‘desalination is the genuine and unique technological solution’ to the water crisis in the Anthropocene.
As the famous German sociologist Ulrich Beck once asked, what could be the ‘unintended consequences of these technological fixes’?
Join us for this insightful discussion with the preeminent and globally renowned water expert Professor Stuart Khan from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and learn about desalination, storm water harvesting, dams (including his thoughts on raising the Warragamba Dam wall), technocracy and the policy process in times of water crisis.