Australia could lead the world in water recycling, according to CSIRO scientists. We have the expertise; we have the technology - but do we have the will to go all the way?

Speaking in Adelaide today as part of National Science Week, Dr Peter Dillon and Dr John Radcliffe will reveal that even in a drought year, a lot of water is wasted.

"Australia is currently the second highest user of domestic water in the world," explains Dr Dillon. "Urban areas take a similar volume of water per hectare from supply catchments as irrigation, but discharge a much greater volume as stormwater and sewage."

Few realise just how much rain goes straight down the drain (as stormwater), and out to the ocean. In Adelaide for example, more than 100,000 million litres of stormwater flows into Gulf St Vincent every year.

That's 100 gigalitres per year, or 500 gigalitres over five years. (By strange coincidence, the same amount of water the National Water Initiative hopes to buy back to save the Murray). A further 60 gigalitres is discharged by our waste water treatment plants.

"There are great opportunities to improve water use efficiency and harvest this otherwise wasted water, reducing demands on stressed catchments, leaving more water in streams and aquifers, and easing pollution," says Dr Dillon.

"Rainwater, stormwater, greywater and reclaimed water will all form part of an indispensable future water supply in urban areas."

The Australian Water Conservation and Reuse Research Program will address the barriers that have historically inhibited the safe and productive use of these relatively untapped resources.

Development of the program was originally motivated by a review of water reuse, current research and research needs published by Dr Dillon in the year 2000, which found the Australian research base modest and fragmented.

"The situation we had then created barriers to good water management and left us vulnerable to failures and inferior decisions, building in long-term inefficiencies", says Dr Dillon. "It was agreed that a coordinated, national effort would be required if Australian water conservation and reuse was to advance into the twenty-first century."

"We have a golden opportunity to lead the world in water conservation and reuse".

The Australian Water Conservation and Reuse Research Program is led by CSIRO and the Australian Water Association (AWA), together with a wide range of stakeholders - including groups as diverse as City Councils, Catchment Management Boards and water industry groups like the GreenPlumbers Association.

Research is being carried out by CSIRO under the auspices of the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, in conjunction with Cooperative Research Centres, Universities and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (AATSE).

Former Deputy Chief Executive of CSIRO Dr John Radcliffe will also summarise the national review of water recycling that he conducted for the AATSE and the Australian Water Conservation and Reuse Research Program at the seminar today.

Dr Radcliffe will outline current practice in water reuse - who is doing it, where and what the water is being used for - and explore the opportunities for growth, issues and policy gaps.

His report has been highly acclaimed by the Australian water industry and international research community.

"There's nothing like a good drought to focus the attention," he says.