PUBLIC LECTURE: Water, Fundamental to a Sense of Place

Perth ranks as one of the highest per capita water users of all Australian capital cities. We need to reassess our lifestyle expectations to embrace increased urban density, smaller gardens with less irrigated area and more native vegetation.

In a bid to ensure a continued, sustainable water supply, the Water Corporation has developed a 50 year plan to respond to the challenge of becoming more climate resilient. The Corporation will work with the community to achieve a 15% reduction in water use, recycle up to 30% of our wastewater flows and progress a range of innovative ways of sourcing water by 2030.

Whether our sense of place is created by personal attachment or defined by geographical characteristics, the challenge for Perth is to design a future which is our own - a future resilient to our changing climate. How we use and value water must be the catalyst for defining the very essence of our sense of place in this unique sandy plain we call home.

This lecture is sponsored by the Institute of Advanced Studies and UWA's Friends of the Grounds and honours the late Professor George Seddon AM.