Australia is one of the driest countries in the world, and its southeast Queensland will have extreme deficit in water supply. Many proposals have been suggested to seal the water deficit up to 500GL/year in 2050.
These countermeasures include more inland reservoirs, wastewater recycle and reuse, and desalination plants etc. this study shows that none of these measures are effective and sustainable for the problem, by analyzing the rainfall data (1200mm/year) and runoff data (10,000GL/year), it is found that the shortage is not water, rather than storage capacity. Based on this discovery, it is proposed that the technology of coastal reservoirs may be an alternative. Its feasibility and sustainability are discussed and analyzed in this paper in terms of water supply reliability and water quality. It is found that the strategy of coastal reservoirs meets the regional water demand well, and it is sustainable, environment-friendly and cost effective.
Water is the most fundament resource for any life, freshwater supply has been and continues to be the biggest challenges in human's history. With the population and economic growth, the access to clean water has been listed as one of the grand challenges for the 21st century by National Academy of Engineering, US. Because approximately 1.1 billion people lack safe drinking water now, and approximately 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation, and between 2 and 5 million people die annually from water-related disease (Gleick, 2005). To meet the food demand in 2025, additional 192 cubic miles of water per year could be required - a volume nearly equivalent to the annual flow of the Nile 10 times over (Gleick, 2001). Severe water shortages have striked areas like Australia. In Australia, it is often believed that the story of Australia is the story of search for, and use of water.
