Sarawak Campus

Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science

Higher Education Division

Tutorial 11: Sustainable Water Use

CVE10006
Sustainable Design
(Semester 2, 2015)
Version date (15 November, 2015)

Student Name:

Student Identification Number:

SCORE

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1.

a) You are required to design a rainwater tank for a house having a roof size of 200.0 m2. Monthly average rainfall
values for the locality are given in the table below. Daily total rainwater demand is 200.0 L in April-September
and 400.0 L in October-March. Assume a 10% loss from rainfall to leakage and runoff. Also, assume a 30-day
month. Calculate what should be the minimum size of the tank to meet 100% of rainwater demand in all months.
Note: 1.0 m3 = 1000 L (exact number). [8 marks]

Demand per month = demand per day * 30

Water received = avg rainfall * roof area (1000 L per m3 offsets the conversion of mm to m)
After losses = water received * 0.9 (10% losses)
Net deficit = demand per month after losses (where water received < demand)
Net surplus = demand per month after losses (where water received > demand)
Minimum tank size = total deficit = 12,200 L = 12.3 m3 (three significant figures)

b) Given that a household in Melbourne uses, on average, 250.0 kL per year, using the rainwater demand figures
provided and assuming that you installed a tank that could meet all of your rainwater demand (ignore losses),
what percentage of your overall annual water use could be met by your rainwater tank? [2 marks]
Total rainwater demand for the year = the sum of demand per month = 108,000 L or 108 kL.
Percentage of total = (108/250)*100 = 43.20% (four significant figures)

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2. Figure 1 presents data on the actual (water directly consumed) and virtual (water consumed in the making of
products) water use for many world nations. Figure 2 presents data on the water use and water availability of
continents and regions around the world. Use these figures to answer the following questions.

Figure 1. Actual and virtual water use per capita for several world nations.

a) Where does Australia rank in terms of its per capita actual and virtual water use? [1 mark]
Third worst

b) Compare the water availability (from Figure 2) to the water use for each of the three biggest users (from
Figure 1) of water per capita. [2 marks]
Canada and the USA have a very large amount of water available and use the most water;
Australia also uses huge quantities of water but has very little water available

c) New Zealand has an economy similar to Australias in many ways with a very similar standard of living.
Compare the water use (from Figure 1) in Australia to that in New Zealand. Which country is more efficient
at using water? Which country has a larger water supply per capita (note: New Zealand receives about 850
mm per year on average and has an annual river discharge similar to Asian countries)? [2 marks]
New Zealand has much more water available than Australia but uses only about as much water per person
as Australia.
Therefore, New Zealand is much more efficient at turning water into wealth.

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3. Much of the worlds water is devoted to agricultural production although the proportion allocated to agriculture
varies greatly from one country to the next (Figure 3). In general, countries that do not use a high proportion of
their water for agriculture have more available for other things, like the environment. Use Figure 3 to help you to
answer the following questions.

Figure 3. Water devoted to agriculture worldwide.

a) In general, would you say that the countries that use 75% of their water or more for agriculture are wet or
dry countries? [1 mark]
Dry countries

b) What does this tell you about why a country might use such a high proportion of water for agriculture? [1
mark]
Because there is not enough rainfall to sustain the population without irrigation

c) Does there appear to be a link between a countries wealth (use your general knowledge about country GDP
for this) and how much water it uses for agriculture? If so, what is the link? [2 marks]
Yes, in general,
countries that use a large proportion of their water for agriculture are poorer countries

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 Figure 4. Top ten countries by agricultural exports.

d) Figure 4 illustrates the top 10 countries for agricultural exports worldwide. How many of these use 75% or
greater of their water for agriculture? How many of these use 50% or less of their water for agriculture? Does
the proportion of total water use invested in agriculture equate to income from agricultural exports? [3 marks]
75% = None
50% or less = 7 countries
No, in general, those countries that generate the most income from agriculture use only a small fraction of
their available water for agriculture

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4. In Australia, where a great proportion of our water use is dedicated to agriculture and water is scarce, it is
important to see how much benefit is derived from different agricultural activities relative to the water use of those
activities. Data on this issue are presented in Figure 5. According to these data:

Figure 5. The return per megalitre for different Australian crop types.

a) Which two crops/activities give the greatest return per mega litre of water used? [2 marks]
Vegetables and fruit

b) Which two crops/activities give the lowest return per mega litre of water used? [2 marks]
Rice and grains/livestock

c) Which two crops use the largest amount of water? [2 marks]

Livestock/grains and cotton

d) Are we using our water as effectively as possible (i.e., are the biggest consumers of water also giving the
highest returns)? Why or why not? [2 marks]
No,
we are using most of water on crops/activities with a very low return (Livestock, cotton, rice, sugar)

e) Based on your answer above, is the free market, which determines what is grown and where, a good
mechanism for allocating water to the most efficient and profitable crop types? What alternate means of
allocating water to agriculture could you envision that might improve the situation? [2 marks]
No, as this is the model now and it is resulting in inefficient water uses dominating.
To redress this problem, governments could legislate what is grown where or could change water pricing
regimes to promote only water efficient agricultural activities taking place.

5. Figure 6 illustrates temperature and rainfall predictions as a result of climate change for Victoria in 2030 and
2070. Use this figure to answer the following questions.

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 Melbourne

Figure 6. Temperature and rainfall predictions for Victoria as a result of climate change.

a) What is the range of potential annual temperature increases for Melbourne by 2030? [1 mark]
0.3 to 1.4oC

b) What is the range of potential annual temperature increases for Melbourne by 2070? [1 mark]
0.6 to 4.1oC

c) What is the range of potential annual rainfall changes for Melbourne by 2030? [1 mark]
-10 to +2%

d) What is the range of potential annual rainfall changes for Melbourne by 2070? [1 mark]
-25 to +10%

e) If the worst happens and Melbourne rainfall is reduced by 25% by 2070 and each drop of 1% in rainfall equals
a 2.5% drop in runoff in Melbourne, what percentage decrease in runoff will Melbourne experience in 2070?
[1 mark]
25% * 2.5% = 62.5% = 63% (2 significant figures)

f) Under these conditions, would we be able to sustain Melbournes water use using dams alone? Why? [2
marks]
No
as our dams would have very little inflow

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6. New virtual water import refers to the amount of water embedded in the products that get traded between various
countries. A negative value indicates that a country exports more water than it imports while a positive value
indicates that a country imports more water than it exports. Figure 7 provides global data on net virtual water
import. Use this figure to answer the following questions.

North America
Asia
Europe

Mexico Middle Japan

East

South America
Australia

Figure 7. Net virtual water import for the world.

a) Is Australia a net virtual water exporter or importer? [1 mark]

Exporter

b) Which country do we export the largest quantity of water to? [1 mark]

Japan

c) Which parts of the world import the most water? [4 marks]

Western Europe,
Japan and South Korea,
North Africa, parts of the Middle East,
Mexico

d) Is there a link between water availability and whether a region (see Figure 2) is a net importer or exporter of
water? Is so, what is the link? [2 marks]
No.
The two wettest continents (North and South America generally export a lot of water but so does Australia,
the driest continent).

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7. Figures 8 and 9 provide data on the water footprint of various products. Use these figures to answer the following
questions.

Figure 8. The water footprint of various products.

Figure 9. Water footprint and production levels for various crop types.

a) Which product consumes the most water per kg? How does this product rate in terms of overall global
production rates? 1 L of water weighs 1 kg. Given this fact, what proportion of the water that goes into this is
consumed when the product is consumed? [2 marks]
Chocolate.
It has very low production overall. 0.006%.

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 b) Of the following beverages which takes the highest amount of water to produce (tea, coffee, milk, wine)?
What proportion of the water that goes into this is consumed when the product is consumed? [2 marks]
Coffee (264 L per 250 mL).
0.09%.

c) Which crop type has the highest global production level? Is this a staple food crop? Most of the worlds
population subsists on rice, wheat and/or corn. How do the production levels of these crops compare? [3
marks]
Sugar.
No.
All three are similar and are about half of the production level of sugar.

d) Which crop type consumes the largest share of the worlds water? [1 mark]
Rice

8. Groundwater is often mooted as an alternative water source to help alleviate the negative impacts of climate
change on rain fed water supplies. Figure 10 illustrates the quality of groundwater reserves in Victoria. Use this
question to answer the following questions.

Figure 10. Groundwater quality in Victoria.

a) Could groundwater solve Melbournes impending water crisis? Why or why not? [2 marks]
No.
The quality of the groundwater around Melbourne is low.
Only suitable for stock watering or industrial use

b) Where is the highest quality groundwater in Victoria found? Where is the lowest quality of groundwater in
Victoria found? Does most of Victorias population live in area with access to drinking water quality
groundwater? [3 marks]
Highest = Eastern Victoria;
Lowest = North West Victoria.
Most of the population lives in areas with poor quality groundwater.

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 Figure 11. The negative impacts of dams.

9. At present, most of Melbournes water supply is secured by reservoirs (i.e., dams). These have typically been in
place for many decades. Given that these dams already exist, what, if any, might be the on-going negative
impacts of these structures? [3 marks]
The biodiversity of our rivers is low and have low fish populations.
Natural sediment and flow regimes are disrupted.
Water quality is poor downstream of the dams.

10. With water resources at a premium around the world and water being vital to not only our survival but also to our
economy and our way of life it may be unsurprising to know that water has been a source of conflict around the
world. These conflicts can occur within a country (between different types of users e.g., urban vs rural; between
upstream and downstream users or between local or state governments) or between countries as rivers seldom
respect international boundaries. Figure 12 highlights some water related conflicts between 1990 and 2008 and
Figure 13 illustrates the proportion of world nations renewable water resources that originate outside those
nations borders. Use these figures to answer the following questions.

Figure 12. Water related conflicts between 1990 and 2008.

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 Figure 13. Percentage of a countrys renewable water resources that originate outside the countrys borders.

a) Is there a relationship between those areas with 127 or more conflicts between 1990 and 2008 and the
proportion of water that is sourced outside a nations borders? If so what is the relationship? Why do you
think there are conflicts in these areas? [3 marks]
Yes.
Most of these nations have a high proportion of their renewable water supplies originating outside their
borders.
Conflicts here originate when upstream users inhibit the flow to downstream users thereby reducing the
availability of water for those users.

b) Are there conflicts in areas that have 80% or more of their renewable resources originating within the
countrys borders? What types of conflicts would these likely be? [2 marks]
Yes.
In these countries conflicts would occur between different types of users.

c) Given the patterns you see here, is there any evidence to suggest that water might be the cause of war in
the future? [2 marks]
Yes.
There is strong evidence that future wars might originate over diminishing water supplies.

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 Figure 1. Actual and virtual water use per capita for several world nations.

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 Figure 2. Water availability and use around the world.

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 Figure 3. Water devoted to agriculture worldwide.

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 Figure 4. Top ten countries by agricultural exports.

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 Figure 5. The return per megalitre for different Australian crop types.

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 Melbourne

Figure 6. Temperature and rainfall predictions for Victoria as a result of climate change.

Figure 7. Net virtual water import for the world.

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 Figure 8. The water footprint of various products.

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 Figure 9. Water footprint and production levels for various crop types.

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 Figure 10. Groundwater quality in Victoria.

Figure 11. The negative impacts of dams.

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 Figure 12. Water related conflicts between 1990 and 2008.

Figure 13. Percentage of a countrys renewable water resources that originate outside the countrys borders.

# End of Document #

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