Japanese drinks giant splashes cash on Qld water
A global drinks giant has partnered with a Queensland university to examine Australian water quantity and quality – and what can be done about it.
Global drinks giant Suntory has partnered with researchers from Queensland’s Griffith University to examine how climate change is impacting Australian rivers, waterways and drinking water.
Under $1 million three-year research partnership, researchers from the university’s Australian Rivers Institute will examine how climate-driven pressure is reshaping Australian water quality and quantity – and what can be done about it.
“Climate change is changing in unprecedented ways,” co-lead researcher Dr Ben Stewart-Koster said.
“We cannot keep making decisions the way we have in the past.
“An exciting aspect of this research is it will chart a course to incorporate these changing conditions into our natural resource planning.”
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The research team will analyse global data to understand how altered rainfall patterns, floods and prolonged droughts are affecting water flows.
Dr Liliana Pagliero from Australian Rivers Institute said aquatic ecosystem health around the world is declining.
“We need targeted actions to stop them from reaching critical tipping points, such as crossing Earth system boundaries, where their biodiversity and provision of nature’s benefits decline rapidly,” she said.
“Research like this provides a fantastic opportunity to guide ecological management to arrest that decline.”
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The research will draw on evidence from Suntory’s water replenishment work in the Lockyer Valley, one of the nation’s most productive agricultural regions and a vital catchment of the Brisbane River.
Working with local landholders, Suntory is supporting the ecosystems that supply its Queensland site, through waterway restoration, improving soil health and strengthening biodiversity.
Suntory Beverage & Food Oceania CEO Dai Minato said Suntory is advancing its goal to replenish more water than it uses.
“For more than 125 years Suntory has been Growing for Good – inspiring the brilliance of life in harmony with people and nature,” Minato said.
“By working together [with ARI], we can safeguard water for communities and for future generations.”
At the end of the program, ARI will apply its findings to establish refined ‘safe zones’ across Australia’s waterways, pinpointing areas where catchment and river flow restoration can improve water quality and ecosystem heath.
The research will also inform policymakers and complement Suntory’s global Mizuiku water education program teaching primary school-students about water conservation.
“We are thrilled to partner with Suntory to conduct research with application to rivers, lakes and reservoirs locally and globally,” ARI Director Professor David Hamilton said.
He added that these water systems are sentinels of what is happening in their catchments.
“They are the ‘canary in the coal mine’, ringing the alarm bell for where human activities and climate change are causing the greatest stress on our ecosystems.”
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