White settlers tried to tame Australia and turn the land into something green like Europe. But when they irrigated, they lifted buried salt - instead of greening the interior, they turned it white. Much of the land now resembles another planet - cracked and barren. Rivers are drying up and once beautiful lakes have been choked to death by salt. Dead trees stand like an eerily quiet battlefield. Salt is eroding golf-courses and cracking gravestones. Australia's well is running dry. Unless farmers change how they use water, and do it quickly, the nation's sustainability is under threat.

Nearly three quarters of the water is used for irrigated agriculture. Surveying the key pressure points in the water crisis, we explore the mistakes of past and present farming practices. The dairy farmers at Murray Bridge still don't know how much water they use when they flood-irrigate their land to create this lush pasture. Others grow rice in paddies. Agriculture has retreated to high ground. Everyone agrees these practices are not sustainable. But most still act as though water is limitless.

The problems have all come about because the Australian government has always given water away, promising more water than heaven can deliver. The stunning wetlands like the Narran Lakes are now protected by law, but industries like Cotton are still reluctant to cap their water use and heed the scientists' warning: "Salt will get you in the end". Australia is about to spend billions of dollars on remedying past mistakes and fixing salinity, but it is too late? The Australian Conservation Foundation warns "Within twenty years Adelaide's water will be too salty to drink on two days out of every five".

Whilst some farmers are still in denial, others like Kevin Ingles know they have destroyed their own land through flood-irrigation. His water rights are now being put too better use to grow grapes. "A lot of the people who live on the river are in deep sorrow, regretting the path we've taken". But there are success stories. We meet farmers tackling the water crisis by embracing radical change, working with environmentalists in a way that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago.

This film reveals the extent and complexity of Australia's water crisis. We see from the air what you often miss on the ground. Our pictures show not only a devastated landscape but also the extraordinary beauty of the country that survives. Many hard choices must be made in the space of one generation. Stunningly filmed, with water-tight science, this is a timely and crucial documentary.

Produced by ABC Australia