Preliminary research results from the windswept coast of southern France suggest an extraordinary but little understood mathematical equilibrium has been keeping the world's coastlines largely intact, despite the vagaries of the weather. The urgent question is whether even small changes in sea levels due to climate change will wreck this natural balance and trigger devastating coastal erosion. The research is a joint UNSW and the University of Plymouth (UK) project deploying what is believed to be the largest single array of scientific instruments ever deployed in coast research. UNSW's Dr Ian Turner says preliminary results show a single wave can shift the seabed by up to two centimetres and move large amounts of sand.

The Australian Government recently established a $3.6 million multidisciplinary research group comprising the CSIRO and nine universities to find better ways to desalinate and recycle water. UNSW received nearly $1 million of this funding to develop efficient new filtration technology. As a result, Dr Gary Rosengarten and Associate Professor Greg Leslie are investigating the pores in algae in order to find ways to improve filtration for wastewater recycling, saltwater desalination and also provide new initiatives for preventative health care.

With much of Australia in the grip of drought and water shortages facing most cities and towns, it’s hard to grasp the idea that Australia has a great abundance of water. Less than 10 percent of all the water we use in Australia domestically is ground water. We can learn from other countries. In Germany, most water in domestic situations comes from groundwater and up to three quarters of the water used in London is groundwater. In the US, groundwater makes up between 30 and 40 percent of all the water used. Professor Ian Acworth is a groundwater specialist who believes the future source of much of our water lies right beneath our feet. 97 percent of our drinkable water lies under the ground.

Professor Acworth heads the UNSW Connected Waters Initiative. While surface and groundwater has mostly been treated as two separate resources, Professor Acworth’s research looks at the ways they are linked and how we can overcome the present difficulties in accessing and developing our groundwater resources.

UNSW’s Water Research Laboratory conducts research in water, coastal and environmental engineering. The Laboratory is playing a major role of the Connected Waters Initiative and is presently undertaking $1.4 million research project looking at using groundwater for cotton irrigation. Dr Anna Greve, Dr Bryce Kelly and Professor Acworth recently developed a device, which measures moisture over a large area without disturbing the soil. This allows farmers to improve their irrigation and save water.

For more information about UNSW research, please visit the UNSW Research website

The major difference between desalinated seawater and recycled water is not the taste or the quality but the amount of energy that was used to create it. While nature desalinates seawater through evaporation by wind and sunlight, humans use lots of fossil fuel energy to desalinate seawater. The best option in terms of saving energy is to find innovative ways to clean and recycle water.