This page introduces an independent water “think tank” focused on innovation rather than politics or commercial interests. It explains why water management will change dramatically over the next century, why large bureaucracies struggle to innovate, and why creativity must be treated as a method, not luck. It outlines key themes on the site—speculative research, watropy, wicking beds, adaptive irrigation scheduling, and technology development—plus links to publications, videos, and background documents.
The Independent Think Tank on Water
This website is about innovation in water. It is an independent water think tank with no affiliations to governments or any commercial organisation.
Almost daily we hear about the water crisis, either here in a wealthy, highly urbanised country like Australia or in poverty-stricken countries like Ethiopia. The headlines change, but the theme stays the same: water is becoming one of the defining challenges of this century.
If we imagine how water may be managed one hundred years into the future, we can see a picture that has changed dramatically, with both new technologies and new philosophies on how we use water. The era of reliance on mega dams will surely have passed. The technologies we now see as emergent—such as recycling and desalination using membrane systems—may themselves be replaced by smaller-scale biological methods as energy consumption becomes a greater issue.
Towns and cities will be designed around water needs. Older cities will be modified where practical, and new developments will be designed from the beginning to make far more effective use of local water.
The benefit of thinking so far into the future is that it helps us plan the actions we should be taking now, and over the next decade. It is undeniable that our attitudes, technologies, and management methods will be subject to rapid change.
Why an Independent Think Tank?
Governments—both Federal and State—are allocating billions of dollars to solving water problems, showing a strong commitment to the issue. But bureaucratic organisations are not naturally good at change or innovation. Internal pressures to conform and fit within formal procedures can easily kill creativity.
The need for creativity and innovation is often recognised by the bureaucracy—for example, through grants for “blue sky” research such as Land and Water funding. Yet conventional thinking that we can solve water problems by massive spending on “more of the same” remains firmly entrenched.
Creativity does not come out of thin air. There are distinct processes that lead to innovation. Understanding those processes is the first theme of this website.
You can see from reading About Colin Austin (the story) that I have a proven track record in innovation and a commitment to solving the water crisis. I have published widely on the process of innovation and on finding solutions to the water crisis. See also the publications section.
We Will Not Solve the Water Crisis with a “Gizmo”
We are not going to solve the water crisis by some gadget. There is nothing wrong with low-flow shower heads, but gizmos are not the solution.
The first step is to learn to think creatively. Innovation and creativity are not random. There is a distinct process that leads to new concepts and ideas.
This is the theme of my book Water Wit and Wisdom — The Search for Solutions to the Water Crisis, and the accompanying DVD series Solving the Water Crisis.
Speculative Research
Research into water issues is largely undertaken or financed by governments. Such research—while often highly competent—can be restricted to narrow targets, which can limit the development of genuinely innovative ideas (what might be called “competence research”).
By contrast, speculative research is a style of research management aimed specifically at innovation: the generation of ideas. The first idea is unlikely to be useful, but it can lead to a chain of ideas, and hopefully to new concepts and paradigms.
Speculative research is high risk. It uses a flexible approach, with generic rather than specific targets, frequent shifts in direction, and a willingness to explore ideas as they occur.
View the video clip on speculative research:
Managing Water
This site looks at managing the water crisis in Australia. However, the problems we face here are common throughout much of the world, in China, India, Asia, Africa, America, and even wet Europe.
You can read a summary of some of the issues in Australia at Phantom Water Crisis.pdf.
We also look at the problem of providing sustenance food in poor regions of the world, such as sub-Saharan Africa and Ethiopia, where lack of water causes widespread hardship and even starvation.
Yet simple technologies like the wicking bed—developed for subsistence farmers in Africa—can also be key for resolving water problems in our cities. Such is the interconnectivity and unpredictability of the innovation process.
You can read a more detailed analysis about organisational structure and water management at Solving Australia’s Water Crisis Why Systems, Not Rainfall, Are Failing Us.pdf.
You can read about the history of the speculative research project into water at Innovative Water-Saving Technologies A Practical Path Beyond Dams and Drought.pdf.
Watropy
Watropy—analogous to entropy in the world of energy—suggests that water has two dimensions: quantity and useful life.
We have relatively small volumes of water with a high watropy (high useful life), and much larger volumes of water with a lower watropy, which we currently fail to use well.
Just as in the field of energy, we need to balance the watropy of water against needs. By doing so we can free up more valuable, high-watropy dam water.
You can read about watropy, the new paradigm—the second dimension of water—at Watropy A New Way to Think About Water Scarcity in Australia.pdf, or with pictures at Watropy: The Paradigm Shift in Water Thinking.pdf.
Wicking Beds
Wicking beds were initially developed as a way of providing sustenance food in climates with erratic rainfalls. They harvest water, improve irrigation efficiency, and store water in the soil until the next rainfall.
You can see the importance of wicking beds and the challenge of creating a paradigm shift:
Irrigation — Adaptive Scheduling
While many Australians see the water crisis as an urban issue, the largest single user of water is irrigation (around 70% of total water usage).
The simplest and most cost-effective way of improving water use is through adaptive scheduling.
You can read an overview at Adaptive Irrigation Scheduling An Easy Way to Stop Wasting Water.pdf. and much background work at Irrigation Scheduling Using Crop Factors and Soil Water Holding Capacity.pdf
Solving the Water Crisis
You can view a five-part series on Solving the Water Crisis by viewing the condensed videos of ‘Solving the Water Crisis Series’
Or you can obtain a high-resolution DVD disc by contacting me at mailto:colinaustin@bigpond.com.
Publications
You can list the various publications at Publications And Topics On Water, Soil, And Irrigation.
Developing Technologies
The nature of speculative research is that one idea leads to the next, often with the first idea being dropped after it has served as a stepping stone in the thought process.
It often helps to understand the final idea by looking back at the thinking that led to its development. For this reason, the original documents have been retained on this website.
There is great interest in sustenance food production in poor countries, and this is where much of the original thinking on this website was carried out. You can go directly to this area by clicking Droughtproofing in Ethiopia: Low-Cost Irrigation Lessons for a Water-Scarce World.
Comments
I look forward to receiving comments on this web page, and I have set aside an area for publishing these comments.
You can read these at Blogs.
Links
I have also included a section with links to other websites. If you have an interesting website, please let me know and I will include it in the list.
See websites.
The Eco Village
Interested in trying out life in an eco village? Click Eco-Village Accommodation In Queensland: Heritage Stay At Kookaburra Park.
View the DVD series on Kookaburra Park Eco Village here.
