If you enjoyed a cup of coffee this morning, it might interest you to know it took 140 litres of water to produce that cup. Such a simple but profound equation.

It is strange, strange, strange that when it comes to the most important subject on the planet, the basis of all life - water - governments, international agencies, economists, scientists and businesses have consistently underestimated the growth in global demand, and the growing stress on supply.

It's the biggest story in the world, yet mostly what we talk about is money: debt, growth, superannuation, savings, stockmarkets, gross national product, housing prices, wages.

Australia's future growth is predicated on the expectation that China and India will continue to emerge as economic behemoths. But the explosion in energy use on which Australia's current boom is based is accelerating the water debt in both China and India.

The link between energy and water is rarely discussed, yet is of huge consequence. The problem was encapsulated in Steven Solomon's book, Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization (2010). He later updated the dilemma in the Journal of Energy Security:

''Pumping, conveying, and treating water is extremely energy-intensive. Water is very heavy - 20 per cent more than oil - and massive volumes are required to sustain modern society . . . each day every person living in an industrialised nation personally consumes about [US]1000 gallons [3785 litres] embedded in the food we eat . . . ''

Think of that cup of coffee and its 140 litres. Or a single steak, which requires almost 10,000 litres of water to produce.

Solomon continues: ''While the 13-fold increase in energy use in the 20th century is often heralded as the signature factor in the unprecedented prosperity of a world population that has quadrupled to over 6 billion, it has been accompanied and also leveraged by a nine-fold increase in freshwater use . . .

''The largest single water user in the industrialised world is the energy industry. Prodigious amounts are needed to produce nearly every type of electricity and transport fuel across the energy value chain . . .

''But scaling up alternative technologies on a sustainable, massive level faces serious water scarcity hurdles. Getting additional oil out of existing wells through enhanced oil recovery techniques uses 15 to 1000 times more water. Potentially game-changing new coal, gas, and oil shale-based unconventional fuels that are shaking up world oil and gas markets are almost all roughly three to five times more water intensive . . . ''

It may seem counter-intuitive to be discussing water shortages in Australia after two of the wettest years in a century. The dams are high, Queensland and Victoria have had record floods, even the desert inland is awash. Last year was the third-wettest since we began keeping national records in 1900, following the second-wettest year on record. Both years were dominated by La Nina.

It was too much of a good thing. For the previous 10 years Australia suffered a long dry. The soil lost moisture. Thousands of hectares were also cleared for wheat and cotton. For soil conservation, the worst possible event with so much dry topsoil was for a sustained period of torrential rain. The erosion would be fearsome. That is exactly what happened. Today the land looks healthy, but thousands of square kilometres have seen topsoil eroded. We reached peak soil in eastern Australia a long time ago. The slow exhaustion of the soil has been hidden by the use of fertilisers. That is why the major food basket of Australia, the Murray-Darling Basin, is officially listed as ''at risk'' by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

All this made Australia vulnerable even before the onset of the mega-weather patterns that have taken such a toll over the past year, a combination of La Nina and the hottest decade in history, plus the clearing of land by farmers, which increased temperatures on the land.

Last year, Australia and New Zealand accounted for more than a third of the world's natural disaster insurance costs, with more than $20 billion in losses from the Queensland floods, the earthquake in Christchurch and cyclone Yasi in northern Australia.

Insurance Australia Group, which owns NRMA, among other brands, predicts that floods, fires, heatwaves and drought will grow more extreme and Australia will be one of the countries most affected by climate change.

Our great emerging trading partners, China and India, will be no better off, because of water stress.

China's groundwater reserves are already over-exploited, and water tables are dropping. China has a strategic water shortfall. It has almost four times the population of the United States but only the equivalent of one-third of America's water resources.

India is worse off. It depends on the monsoons and flows from the Himalayan glaciers, which are retreating. India must sustain 20 per cent of the world's population with just 4 per cent of the world's freshwater. The strain is showing. In 1980, there were 2 million wells in India. Today there are 23 million. If wells are dug too deep, saltwater seeps into the aquifer causing irreparable damage. This is happening.

The Ganges is polluted and threatened by the loss of flow from the Himalayan glaciers. Water volume on the Indus - a river crucial to both India and Pakistan - is down 30 per cent.

As India's middle-class grows rapidly, its food and energy consumption leads to soaring water consumption. Something will have to give. Wealth or water.

The world's growing freshwater stress makes the debt crisis in Europe look trivial by comparison, yet it barely rates consideration.

Water Shortage | Energy Use

and down the road a bit .....

The ACT Liberals have questioned the efficacy of Canberra's plastic bag ban after supermarket giant Coles revealed bin liner sales have increased by 29 per cent since the laws were introduced.

Providing plastic bags thinner than 35 microns, typically the sort given away in supermarkets, takeaway shops and markets, became illegal on November 1.

Coles' head of communications, Jon Church, said he expected bin liner sales to double.

''Wherever plastic bag bans have been introduced, we see an increase in sales of bin liners as customers no longer have single-use carrier bags available which many households use for disposing of their waste. It is well reported that following the South Australian ban, sales of bin liners across all retailers doubled,'' Mr Church said. ''Sales of kitchen bin liners in the ACT increased by 29 per cent following the carrier bag ban.''

A spokeswoman from Woolworths said she could not release bin liner sales information as it was ''commercial in confidence.'' Coles and Woolworths have been charging 15c for thicker carrier bags but Mr Church said but he was unable to provide figures on how many had been sold since November 1.

''The most popular reusable bag chosen by Coles customers is our 99c 'green' bag,'' he said.

Liberal MLA Alistair Coe said the figures called the Government's reasons for the ban into question.

''It goes to show that the plastic bag ban is putting an extra cost on the weekly bills of Canberra families, but in addition to that, it shows that the consumption of plastic bags is perhaps remaining steady,'' he said.

The new laws were passed by the ACT Government with the Greens' support and the Liberals voted against it.

But Mr Coe said the party had not discussed if it would repeal the laws if they were able to form government after October's local elections.

''It goes to show that Canberrans were reusing the plastic bags before - they were reusing them as bin liners or other purposes and those purpose remain, but now they simply have to go and buy the plastic bags instead - so from an environmental point of view, I doubt if it's having the desired effect.''

Environment Minister Simon Corbell was not available for comment, but when the new laws came into effect, he said it would decrease ''the amount of waste that goes to landfill, and helps people to continue to reduce our impact on the environment.''

An estimated 64 million plastic bags were sent to ACT landfill last year.

The Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate was unable to provide any new figures on plastic bags in landfill.

Since July last year, the Office of Regulatory Services has inspected 2191 businesses to check compliance with the new laws.

A spokesman from Justice and Community Safety said no infringements have been issued. ''ORS is following up with approximately 30 businesses to assist them in their compliance,'' he said.

Environment Minister Simon Corbell was not available for comment, but when the new laws came into effect, he said it would decrease ''the amount of waste that goes to landfill, and helps people to continue to reduce our impact on the environment.''

An estimated 64 million plastic bags were sent to ACT landfill last year.

The Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate was unable to provide any new figures on plastic bags in landfill.

Since July last year, the Office of Regulatory Services has inspected 2191 businesses to check compliance with the new laws.

A spokesman from Justice and Community Safety said no infringements have been issued. ''ORS is following up with approximately 30 businesses to assist them in their compliance,'' he said.

Bin Liner Sales Skyrocket After Bag Ban