Water is both a cotton grower’s most precious natural resource and one of Australia’s greatest environmental challenges. Without water, crops can’t be grown, natural fibres wouldn’t be produced and regional communities cannot survive.
Water management is a very complex issue that unfortunately has no easy solution. This section aims to put the facts on the table about cotton’s water use as well as provide some information about the industry’s significant investments in water use efficiency.
5 Quick Water Facts:
- Of the water utilised by agriculture in 2004/05, dairy farming accounted for 19%, livestock and grains 18%, pasture 16%, cotton 15% and sugar 10%
- Cotton uses about the same amount of water as other summer crops like maize, corn and soybeans
- The Australian cotton industry plans to double its water use efficiency in the next 10 years
- The Australian cotton industry is three times more efficient than the global average
- Governments are responsible for allocating the water available to different users, with low security users (such as most of the cotton industry) first to have their allocations reduced during dry periods
