State of Environment
Indicator 61 - Total potable water consumption at Australian Antarctic Stations
Description
- Indicator Definition
- This indicator identifies the total amount of potable water consumed per
person per day on each station. The figures are reported monthly to the
Building Services Supervisor at Kingston.
Responsible organisation
Australian Antarctic Division ( Australia )
Custodians
No custodians.
Theme area
Human Settlements
Indicator type
Pressure
Criteria the indicator satisfies
The following 5 out of 15 criteria
| 5. | Be capable of being monitored to provide statistically verifiable and reproducible data that shows trends over time and, preferably, apply to a broad range of environmental regions |
| 6. | Be scientifically credible |
| 7. | Be easy to understand |
| 9. | Be cost-effective |
| 10. | Have relevance to policy and management needs |
Date input
Monthly measurements
Monitoring location
Geographic coverage
- Latitude (-54.6198 to -54.6198)
Longitude (158.8609 to 158.8609) - Latitude (-66.2818 to -66.2818)
Longitude (110.5276 to 110.5276) - Latitude (-67.6026 to -67.6026)
Longitude (62.8738 to 62.8738) - Latitude (-68.5766 to -68.5766)
Longitude (77.9673 to 77.9673)
- Rationale For Indicator Selection
- This indicator gives the amount of water consumed per person per day at each
station. It is also an indication of the volume of effluent and wastewater
released, as all but an estimated 10% of water harvested is released. Water
used on station is monitored closely, as it is a direct indicator of how
efficiently each station is managing this resource. It is also related to the
amount of energy consumed to produce water, as water production in Antarctica
is a time consuming and costly process. - Design and Strategy For Indicator Monitoring Program
- Spatial scale: Australian Antarctic continental stations and Macquarie Island
station.
Frequency: Monthly reports
Measurement techniques: A conventional mechanical water meter is used to
measure water consumption for Casey, Davis and Macquarie Island.
A measurement of the volume of water in storage tanks each month provides
Mawson's water consumption levels. In both cases the amount is then converted
to a figure that represents water consumed per person per day.
At the Antarctic stations in the near future water consumption will be
measured through the Building Monitoring and Control System (BMCS).
Data
Temporal range of the available data, as described by the metadata record, is from 01-Jan-2000 .
- Timespan
- January-2000 to March-2024
- Number of data points
- 2279
To view or download any of the data, you must be logged in
- Hide graphs for Casey
- View graphs for Davis
- View graphs for Macquarie Island
- View graphs for Mawson
Casey: Total water consumption
Data quality, interpretation and analysis of indicator data
- '
- In looking at water consumption figures it is important to note that each station employs a unique method of water production and storage that may influence the interpretation of any figures obtained.
- Davis Station: All of the water at Davis is drawn from a tarn and then processed through a continuous micro-filtration system and a reverse osmosis desalination plant. The water produced by these plants is pumped via a calcite filter to two 600,000 litre tanks for storage and then onto smaller tanks for consumption. Total water storage at Davis is 1,430,000 litres.
- Mawson Station: Water at Mawson is produced primarily by melting snow and ice in a melt cavern using hot water pumped through a melt bell. The water is then pumped into storage tanks before passing through a gauze filter to the end user. During summer there is a limited amount of free water, this is water that runs off the plateau filling the melt caverns. Total water storage at Mawson is 270,000 litres.
- Casey Station: Water at Casey is produced primarily by melting snow and ice in a melt cavern using hot water pumped through a melt bell. The water is then pumped into storage tanks before passing through a calcite filter to the end user. During summer there a limited amount of free water, this is water that runs off the plateau filling the melt caverns. Total water storage at Casey is 270,000 litres.
- Macquarie Island: The water for Macquarie Island is run off from the plateau, water is collected in a small dam, piped to two storage tanks before passing through a gauze, sand and UV filters to the end user. The total water storage capacity at Macquarie Island is 104,000 litres.
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Data usage constraints
' This data set conforms to the PICCCBY Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). '
Data access constraints
' These data are publicly available for download from the URL given below. '
Custodian evaluation
22 May 2002
The graph shows the typical seasonal variation of water consumption throughout the year. Total water consumption during the summer rises due the influx of summer personnel.
Ideally the graph should show ‘the per person per day consumption’ remaining constant and the total consumption rising with station population.
The water consumption figures for Mawson, Casey and Davis in summer 2002 show a marked improvement in water conservation compared with the previous summer.
The Macquarie Island graph shows a drop in the water consumption in July 2001, and again in February 2002. The drop in July 2001 was due to a frozen water line and the one in February 2002 was due to a dry summer and the presence of bacteria in the station water supply.
14 Nov 2002
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3 Jul 2007
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4 Jul 2013
In 2010-11, total water consumption at stations was 6,705 kL, an average of 42.30 Kl per person per year. In 2011-12, total water consumption at stations was 7,011 kilolitres, an average of 48.02 kilolitres per person per year. Total potable water storage at Davis is 1 430 000 litres. It is drawn from the Davis tarn and processed through a continuous microfiltration system and a reverse osmosis desalination plant before pumping through a calcite filter to two 600 000 storage tanks and smaller tanks for consumption. Total water storage at both Casey and Mawson is 270 000 litres each. It is produced by melting snow and ice in a melt cavern using hot water pumped through a melt bell and then pumped into storage tanks. Total water storage at Macquarie Island is 104 000 litres. It is run off from the plateau, collected in a small dam and piped into two storage tanks before passing thorugh filters to the end user. LF
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For definitions of the Scale categories, consult the Explanation of the Status Categories
Related resources
| |
| SOE Indicator 48 - Station and ship person days |
| SOE Indicator 50 - Volume of wastewater discharged from Australian Antarctic Stations |
| SOE Indicator 56 - Monthly fuel usage of the generator sets and boilers |
| SOE Indicator 76 - Monthly fuel usage of ships travelling to Australian Antarctic Stations |
Parameters
The properties link can be used to view details of the parameters measured for this indicator.
| Parameter Name | Unit of measure | Properties |
|---|---|---|
| Total water consumption | litres | Properties |
| Water consumption per person | litres/person/day | Properties |
The following parameters and/or sensor notes are from the metadata record.
Parameters
EARTH SCIENCE > HUMAN DIMENSIONS > ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE/MANAGEMENT > WATER MANAGEMENTRelated URLs
http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=SOE_potable_water
Citation reference for this metadata record and dataset
http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/portal/download_file.cfm?file_id=1272
Download page for Australian Antarctic Data Centre