While the water debate continues across Australia, a new local workshop on water management has cast the issue globally. Tara Egan reports.

Karakouram highway crosses the Indus river in northern Pakistan. Image: Joonas Lyytinen

An international water workshop is underway in Sydney, which is focused on the impact of population change, energy needs and climate change on water resources.

Colin Chatres, head of the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka, is a speaker at the workshop entitled Water and Its Interdependencies in the Australian Economy.

He says Australia has a lot to teach other countries about effective water use, with many countries facing severe food shortages in the wake of a growing population.

“The opportunities are the fact that Australia has developed an extremely good suite of methodologies to deal with these kinds of issues in food production; both in terms of conservation farming on dry land systems to improved irrigation technologies…” he said.

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Mr Chatres said the water management issues facing Australia are similar to countries right across the globe.

“Overseas, there really are several countries that are on a threshold… if they don’t get things right and if they don’t improve the way they produce food… they are going to be faced with famine and more malnutrition,” he said.

Citing an agreement made between India and Pakistan on the Indus River – where water passes between both countries – Mr Chatres said that despite political tension, both countries have been able to effectively manage the river.

Looking to the future, Mr Chatres said he would like to see the environment given much greater consideration.

“In Australia we store approximately 5000 cubic metres per person of water, per year in big dams and rivers. In Ethiopia that figure is less than 40 cubic metres per person, per year. So there is no real buffer there for people to get water if things are getting tough,” he said.

Tara Egan is a producer on the Wire.