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| lessons for a world dependant on water
| Water Conservation and Water Auditing: a new IWA Publication
| "Jeff Sturman's new book will set a new standard in water auditing" says Dr Martin Anda

Jeff Sturman, Research Fellow with the ETC (pictured right with Professor Goen Ho), has authored a new book, with Goen Ho and Kuruvilla Mathew, which brings together contemporary approaches to water auditing and conservation. With Perth entering yet another summer of water restrictions and Australia as a whole now recognising that we face a major water crisis Jeff's forthcoming book will be published at a time when water issues are taking centre stage. Research Manager at the ETC, Dr Martin Anda said the "...book will set a new standard in water auditing and couldn't come at a better time. Water issues are one of the biggest environmental issue we face, not just in Australia but internationally."

» visit the IWA Online Bookstore to purchase your copy NOW!

From Jeff's introduction:
"Water is an essential ingredient for life upon earth. It comprises more than 80% of the mass of the human body and is necessary for the well being of approximately thirty million species inhabiting our planet Earth, with their accompanying ecosystems. Water appears to be abundant, with the oceans amounting to the order of 1018 m3, a truly large quantity. Yet when we focus on human needs for water, this huge, readily available quantity of water is greatly reduced. Water can be used to satisfy just some human needs when it is saline to a substantial degree. For example sea water can be used for once through cooling in a conventional power station, yet mostly we need water which has a salinity of a few thousand parts per million or much lower than this. Drinking water, for example, should ideally have a salinity of less than 500 parts per million, which is a convenient boundary to distinguish between fresh and brackish water. The availability of fresh water is truly restricted. Only about 2.7% of the world’s surface water is fresh. Remove the ice component and the remaining fresh water amounts to only 0.8% of the total surface water. Our human life depends substantially on this relatively small quantity of fresh water."

"The sheer number of human beings now alive limits the availability of fresh water to just modest quantities per person. Even these quantities are hard to obtain for many people."

"As a broad generalisation human beings are distributed on the Earth in a way which follows the spatial distribution of water. Where water is readily available large numbers of people live. Thus human waste and industrial waste tend to be generated and disposed of near the source of water used by humans. While countries with advanced economies generally try to minimise the interaction between water and waste, countries with less advanced economies and burgeoning populations are often unable to protect water from the effects of the main consumers, or from discharges from limited numbers of massive mining or manufacturing operations."

"The ecosystems, which support life on our planet, all depend upon water whose quality is not significantly modified by human activities. Natural ecosystems have been substantially modified or even destroyed in areas of high human population concentration. The effects of humans are now being felt globally, even in areas of low human habitation or use."

This book is aimed at students, water auditors and other professionals in the water field, especially those motivated by quantitative water conservation needs.

There is a strong emphasis in the book on principles and on the relationship of water auditing with associated activities like environmental auditing, environmental management systems, resource conservation, flow measurement, water quality and legal frameworks.

Alongside the theoretical material we integrate field experience from professionals. Chapters outline the processes and issues at stake in a variety of typical arenas in which water auditing might be conducted. These include building interiors and exteriors, landscape, external commercial applications requiring irrigation, aquatic centres, material transport by water, cooling systems and non-metal manufacturing (exemplified by paper manufacture) to name a few.

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» contact Dr Jeff Sturman
» visit the IWA Online Bookstore to purchase your copy NOW