The Desert Knowl­edge Research Insti­tute is assist­ing the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Government’s Depart­ment of Envi­ron­ment, Parks and Water Secu­ri­ty to address and improve water secu­ri­ty in the NT, through a sub­mis­sion cov­er­ing Alice Springs. This will con­tribute to the NT’s Strate­gic Water Plan, which will set the agen­da on water man­age­ment through to 2050.

Talk­ing Water: Kwatye Angkeme is facil­i­tat­ed by the Desert Knowl­edge Research Insti­tute; work­ing with:

• Alice Springs Town Coun­cil,
• Arid Lands Envi­ron­ment Cen­tre,
• Cen­tral Land Coun­cil,
• Lhere Arte­pe Abo­rig­i­nal Cor­po­ra­tion,
• NT Farm­ers Asso­ci­a­tion,
• the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Gov­ern­ment,
• Pow­er and Water Cor­po­ra­tion,
• and the peo­ple in the Alice Springs Water Con­trol District.

A suite of com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment activ­i­ties was held through Octo­ber and Novem­ber 2021, to sup­port a mul­ti-lev­el stake­hold­er response to 10 pro­posed direc­tions for water secu­ri­ty in the North­ern Territory.

The facts

• We use more than twice as much water as the Aus­tralian average.
  
  

• Our drink­ing water comes from under­ground sources = we are min­ing our water.
  
  
• At present rates, our town water sup­ply will be uneco­nom­i­cal by ear­ly/mid-2200s. But cli­mate change and a rise in pop­u­la­tion means this could hap­pen much sooner.
  
  
• We are exhaust­ing water resources that have exist­ed for hun­dreds of thou­sands of years.
  
  
• Water mat­ters to you, your fam­i­ly, our future.
  
  
• We can’t afford to squan­der our water future.
  
  
• We can all be part of a safer water future!

Some detailed facts

• Pow­er and Water get our drink­ing water from the Amadeus Basin using bores (deep nar­row wells) at the Roe Creek Bore­field. This water is very old, esti­mat­ed to be from up to 35,000 years ago.
  
  
• It is slow­ly replen­ished at 2 gigal­itres annu­al­ly, but we use over 9 gigal­itres a year.

• The water-table has dropped 6 metres in the last 10 years.
  
  
• Alice Springs also has the aquifers formed in the Todd Basin…
  - replen­ish­es after a big rain
  - too small to sup­port the pop­u­la­tion
  - used for sport­ing fields and golf club
  - must be man­aged care­ful­ly; if it drops too low, riv­er red gums and oth­er veg­e­ta­tion suf­fer or die
  
  
• Our water-depen­dant envi­ron­ment has changed because of dif­fer­ences in land use, a grow­ing pop­u­la­tion, and accel­er­at­ing cli­mate change…
  - water­holes and swamps have dis­ap­peared or been dam­aged
  - weed infes­ta­tions (buf­fel grass, couch, etc.)

Past events

Water & Peo­ple Workshop

Tues­day 2 Novem­ber 2021; 4:45 pm — 6:30 pm
Coun­cil Lawns

Water & Econ­o­my Workshop

Tues­day 9 Novem­ber 2021; 4:30 pm — 6:45 pm
Cham­ber of Commerce

Water & Envi­ron­ment Workshop

Thurs­day 11 Novem­ber 2021; 4:30 pm — 6:30 pm
East Side Com­mu­ni­ty Garden

Com­mu­ni­ty Water Forum

The major event that will bring it togeth­er and help gen­er­ate the Com­mu­ni­ty Sub­mis­sion to the NT Strate­gic Water Plan consultation.

Thurs­day 25 Novem­ber 2021; 4:00 pm — 7:00 pm
Andy McNeill Room, Alice Springs Town Council

NTG Direc­tions Paper

Make a sub­mis­sion to the to help craft the NT Strate­gic Water Plan that will guide the direc­tion and deci­sion-mak­ing around water until 2050.

Fri­day 4 Feb­ru­ary 2022
Make a submission

Get informed

Cul­tur­al Val­ues Asso­ci­at­ed with Alice Springs Water — Dick Kimber

A great read that explains how Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ple engage with water and the landscape.

Liv­ing Water Smart in Alice

Infor­ma­tion and ideas on how to save water and money.

You can have your say