Water for life

At the time of European colonisation in 1788, the First Fleet settled in Sydney Cove because they found a source of fresh water. It became known as the Tank Stream and it was a vital source of drinking water during the first few decades of the colony. However, by 1828, the Tank Stream was too polluted to be used as a source of drinking water. The pollution came from people using the stream for washing clothes and bathing, human waste (sewerage), as well as waste from livestock using the stream for drinking. 

[Image: Tank Stream 1873. Image extracted from page 225 of volume 1 of Australia … Illustrated with drawings by Skinner Prout, N. Chevalier, by BOOTH, Edwin Carton. Original held and digitised by the British Library. Public Domain]

The Tank Stream was once a sustainable source of fresh water and food for Indigenous peoples. These days, the Tank Stream runs through a tunnel about 1 metre below the streets of the Central Business District (CBD) of Sydney.

One alternative source of drinking water in the early years of the Sydney colony was a freshwater spring found in the area now known as Centennial Park, which is about 4 kilometres away from the CBD of Sydney. Water from Centennial Park was used by some parts of the colony for a few years, until it too, like the Tank Stream, became too polluted to drink.

For Sydney, and other cities and towns around the world, supplying the population with clean drinking water, in a sustainable way, is extremely important. These days, most of Sydney’s drinking water comes from dams, including Warragamba Dam, which are managed by WaterNSW. The water from the dams is treated and piped to homes by Sydney Water.  

[Image: Lake Burragorang Warragamba Catchment Nattai National Park. Lake Burragorang, formed by Warragamba Dam, when full holds four times more water than Sydney Harbour. Image credit: John Spencer/DCCEEW 128880] 

Sydney also has a desalination plant that converts salt water from the sea into fresh water for drinking. The desalination plant was constructed to provide a source of drinking water in times of drought.

The population of Sydney is over 5.5 million people and, on average, each person in Sydney uses about 200 litres of drinking quality water every day. The quality of drinking water in Sydney is very good, and the water treatment involves filtration and chlorination, as well as pumping the water around the city, and each of these steps requires a lot of water and a lot of energy.

Water conservation involves educating the population to limit the amount of water they use and reducing the amount of drinking quality water that is wasted. This can include: encouraging people to avoid wasting water; having strict water restrictions and fines in times of drought; and fixing leaks in the water supply system.

Access to safe drinking water is a basic human need and around 25% of the world’s population does not have access to a safely managed source of clean drinking water. Many of these people have to travel long distances to collect their drinking water and many are at risk of diseases from contaminated water. 

Only about 1% of all of the water on Earth is readily available freshwater that is suitable for drinking. Around 2% of the freshwater on Earth is in the form of ice or inaccessible groundwater. The remaining 97% of water on Earth is seawater.