water shortage

Water being in the wrong place or containing stuff (solutes, organisms) that make it unfit for drinking causes a "shortage". You are absolutely correct that there is plenty of water, but it takes a lot of money, energy, and time to get it into your faucet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification talks about some of what I mean.

Not long for the English......although I'm in Scotland and we never have hosepipe bans.

Did you know that the government have begun piping our water down south so that the English people don't run out....hahaha

CITY residents with well-watered gardens should pay more for their water than flat dwellers who use less, under a proposal by a leading business group.

In a paper released today, the Business Council of Australia (BCA) says shortages with the nation's water supply system were largely man-made but acting as a major brake on economic growth.

The study, titled "Water Under Pressure: Australia's man-made water scarcity and how to fix it", argues that urban Australians are being offered water restrictions instead of sustainable solutions.

At the same time, outdated policies were stopping rural Australians from getting the most value from their water, the paper says.

BCA policy director Maria Tarrant said reliance on reducing water use through water restrictions was unsustainable.

"We are saying that we should have the Productivity Commission have a look at pricing strategies for urban water and that at some level there will need to be an adjustment to the price paid for water in our cities to recognise the cost of bringing on the new investment in infrastructure," she told ABC radio.

"But it may well be that you have a pricing mechanism which is a sliding scale so that those who want to invest in watering large gardens are paying for that.

"Those of us who have small courtyards or dryscape gardens aren't going to have to pay the additional cost."

Ms Tarrant said Australia's population was projected to reach 25 million by 2032.

"Even if you recognise the fact that the rain patterns are changing you do not actually have to have the scarcity in the urban environment that we have at the moment," she said.

"That is a man-made problem and it is one that can be fixed with investment in infrastructure."

Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull, parliamentary secretary with responsibility for water policy, agreed.

"It underlines the truth that our cities can have all of the water they are prepared to pay for," he told ABC radio.

"We simply have to make the investments and stop state governments treating their water utilities as cash cows.

"In our cities we can make as much water as we need but we have to make the investments to do that. The big urban water utilities are very profitable businesses.

"If those businesses are allowed to invest and do what they should do, which is to deliver the water the cities need, then we will not have – on a long term basis at any rate – water restrictions in our major cities."

BCA chief executive Katie Lahey said unavoidable water scarcity was one of Australia's great myths.

"Our water supply problems are man-made due to poor planning and management that is turning a sufficient supply of water at the source to scarcity for end-users," she said.

"It is true that water is scarce in parts of the country and rainfall is declining but it is our water system, not the amount of water available for potential use, that is the real problem."

I live in australia and deslanisation was considered but there are very few places to build something as large as a desalinization plant and in that town the people protested against it and won in part because the gov't had screwed them over with infustructure before

right now the most sensible option is recycling water which is already done in some place but people dont seem to want to drink recycled efluence..personally i would rather drink that than die of thirst

also with the farmers isolation is a big problem farmers are starting to commit suicide over it..things are being done to get water to them and charities for them have been set up but if i can remember correctly they regrejected a gov't proposal to build them irrigation for whatever reason

and solar power is also being set up the town i live in is actually planned to be the first to be solar powered

water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.
Converting sea water to drinking water requires a lot of energy, time, and money, but it is starting to become more prominent.

Hopefully we wont have a water shortage in the south east after the rain we have had. The water companies need to sort out the leaks and the drains. Walking down the road the other day all the drains were full up and the water not going anywhere, because of the dry summer kicking up dust which has got stuck in them and blocking them up!!

You've GOT to be kidding..(I HOPE you're kidding). The brick goes in the tank, not the toilet bowl.