Australia: big and dry

In Australia, the average is just 472mm per year. With such a low and variable rainfall, 70% of the country is classified as being desert or semi-desert. Climate change is also causing rainfall to decline even more in southern Australia, while it is increasing in tropical Australia.

Despite the relative scarcity of water, we don’t rank well as water savers. On a per capita basis, Australia's water use is the third highest among OECD countries, after the USA and Canada. While the majority of our national water usage is for agricultural irrigation, we cannot discount the amount of water used (and wasted) in the home.

Every city and town gets its water from a different source and this has a direct effect on the local river system, lake or aquifer. Find out where your home's water supply comes from; the water you can save at home could directly benefit that river or catchment.

For more background on water issues in Australia, check out ACF's Rivers and Water section

With drought and water restrictions becoming regular events, it's time to permanently change our water consumption habits. There are easy things everyone can do to reduce their household's water consumption.