7 Wild Water Facts from an Australian Water Services Coordinator

1. 7 Wild Water Facts from an Australian Water Services Coordinator As any water services coordinator knows, water is simply amazing. It is such a diverse substance that it keeps every water services coordinator, Australia wide, on their toes. Being a water services coordinator in Sydney is particularly fulfilling. To learn why, just check out fact 6! 1- Water plays a big role in our learning process. Water introduces kids to concepts such as cause and effect, temperature, calm, cleaning, sensation, experimentation, and language. In fact „water‟ was the very first word that Helen Keller (famous deaf and blind person) learned in 1887. In her autobiography she describes the first delightful understanding of the mystery of language, associating w-a-t-e-r with that cool, flowing substance. 2- Water is one of the most powerful forces in the world. You can readily see that salt and sugar dissolve in water. Did you know that most rocks also dissolve in water? Although some things dissolve very slowly, no other liquid can dissolve more substances than water. That‟s why you can readily see the effects of erosion. 3- Water is one of our most important substances. As a carrier for chemicals, minerals and vital nutrients through the planet, and our bodies, it is an essential component for life. In fact, water is so important that we could only survive around a week without it. In contrast you could go without food for about 8 weeks. 4- Water is the most common substance on earth. This is handy, since roughly 25,700 litres of water are needed just to grow enough food to feed a family of four for a day. 5- Working with water requires extensive scientific knowledge. In addition to understanding flow, gravity, and force, water service coordinators are working with the only earthly substance that has three natural states: Liquid, solid, and gas. With a high surface tension water clumps together in an elastic, sticky form, rather than spreading thin. It takes an in depth understanding of what things like this means if you want to work with water. 6- Sydney Harbour is often used as a reference for measurement

2. Sydney Harbour is an iconic body of water measuring around 500 gigalitres. It is so iconic that it is often referred to as a unit of volume when measuring large Australian bodies of water. For instance, Lake Eucumbene holds “nine times the volume of Sydney Harbour” and Warragamba Dam is “4 times the size of Sydney harbour.” Next time you visit a dam or a lake, make sure you check out how big it is in terms of the Sydney Harbour unit of of measurement! 7- Australians love our water Interestingly our koala is an exception and doesn‟t drink water! For the rest of us, water plays a major role, with around 80% of the population living on or near the coast. Australia even boasts three World Heritage listed water attractions: Kakadu, the Great Barrier Reef and the Franklin River. Furthermore, despite being one of the driest inhabited continents in the world, Australia‟s water use is one of the highest per person. In fact, we use roughly 50 Sydney Harbours of water every year! Author’s Bio: Louis Panagopoulos is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers with over 36 years‟ experience. As the lead engineer at LP Consulting Australia his expertise are in civil engineering and water engineering. To know more, visit www.lp-consulting.com.au