Most Australians are wasteful of water and treat access to plentiful water as a right. We think little about our water consumption and less about reducing our use. Despite recent improvements in awareness of water sustainability, there is still very little recycling of grey water (water used in the home, excluding water used in the toilet, which is black water). But in reality the fresh water resources of Planet Earth are a rare and enormously valuable resource.

Of all the water on earth, 97% is in the oceans, 2% is contained in glaciers and only 1% is on land. Of the 1% on land, 97% is below the surface, as groundwater, and more than half of that is out of reach.

Of the global reserves of fresh water, 0.06% is in soil moisture, 0.3% is in lakes, 0.03% is in rivers and 0.03% is in the atmosphere as water vapour. Only 11.39% of global freshwater is accessible, non-saline water.

Of the liquid fresh water found at the surface, 30% is in lakes in Africa, 25% in lakes in North America, 18% is in Lake Baykal (Russia) and 27% is in smaller lakes and rivers elsewhere in the world. Rivers are really insignificant in global terms. They carry only 1,200 km3 compared with 125,000km3 in fresh water lakes and inland seas.