Section H 



ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE. 



ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT: 



ELLWOOD MEAD, 



Chairman of the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, Melbourne. 



CONSERVATION OF WATER IN AUSTRALIA. 



In choosing a subject for this address it was desirable that it be 

 one about which I knew something, and also one in which others 

 had an interest. I chose the conservation of our water supplies as 

 coming nearest to meeting both requirements. 



I regard the right management of public water resour es as 

 the most important economic problem of this continent. \Vater 

 is the one raw material which is indispensable to the us ^ of aU 

 others. Without an adequate supply of pure water the conduct 

 of an orderly household is unthinkable ; without it, mines are 

 unworkable and land is worthless for either mining or grazing. 

 In about two-thirds of this continent the average annual rainfall 

 is less than 20 inches. In all this area it is doubtful whether with 

 the most economical use enough can be conserved to permit of all 

 the land being occupied or all the mines worked, and it is certain 

 that with improvident or wasteful use large areas of fertile and 

 fruitful soil must for ever remain barren. 



To have a right ending this work must have a right beginning. 

 The first laws and the first works have an immense importance 

 because of their influence on what is to follow. What is done at 

 the outset affects not simply the present generation, but all the 

 unnumbered generations which are to live here in the future. 



The portion of the continent where the hmited rainfall makes 

 water conservation necessary is about half as large as all Europe. 

 Here nature must be supplemented by the work of man to secure 

 an adequate water supply to meet the requirements of civilised 

 life. To provide for this so as to safeguard all dependent thereon 

 from loss or suffering in recurring dry seasons is a monumental 

 task in engineering, legislation and economics. 



The first requirement in formulating policies for this work is 

 accurate knowledge. We must know how much water is available, 

 or can be made available. We must know how much is needed to 

 supply any particular use before we can safely make plans. Until. 



