So most of the consumption of water in Australia comes from water which is kept above ground. More than 300 dams regulate river flows around the country. The dams store water for a variety of functions, the rural irrigation of crops, without which many productive areas of the country would not be able to be farmed; the regulation of flooding, a serious problem which will be dealt with later in the course; and last but not least, the harnessing of the force of gravity for the generation of electricity.

That is all we have time for this morning, but you will be able to do further study on this important area in the library. I have a handout here with references on the subject, so if you are interested, please come up to the desk and take a copy.

Next week’s lecture is a case study of an outback farm and...