I was going to jump straight into my story but I think I need to provide some background first.

The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is pretty well the only reliable, freshwater for an area that stretches 1.7 million square kilometres. It covers regions of the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. I've read that there is enough water in it to fill 130,000 Sydney Harbours. That's a lot of water I suppose, but when you know once it's gone it's gone, you have to think twice about how precious that amount is. Obviously, some of the water is not potable, and some is unfit for irrigation. What I have learnt is it is 250 million years in progress, thereby making it a very precious resource indeed.

The Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee main role is "to provide advice from community organisations and agencies to relevant state, Northern Territory and Australian government ministers on efficient, effective and sustainable whole-of-Basin resource management, and to coordinate activity between stakeholders."

It is the whole-of-Basin management that particularly interests me. I am very keen on getting a whole-environmental-sustainable resource-economy whatever you want to call it - a holistic plan or model that is Australia wide. This self-interest business of States and corporations and farmers is a mess. What we need is a national plan, one that addresses the value of resources and communities right across the ecosystems and all other systems in between.

I think we are precisely in a pickle with gas companies because we do not have a holistic management authority. When are we going to get one?

It should be clear the GAB is very important to Australia. We can't waste a drop. That's why I have such a problem with unnecessary waste.

Stay tuned for Part II.