Unit 1
Unit 2
Environmental Markets
Household Water Use
Between 2001 and 2005, the overall level of water consumption in Australia fell by 14%. Although exact figures haven’t yet been released, it is likely that the overall level of consumption has fallen significantly since then. There are many reasons for this; households, businesses and the government have all played a role, but the specific role played by the household sector might surprise you.
Most of the advertising that we see in regards to water consumption targets households. Over time we have been asked to keep our showers to three minutes, install rainwater collection tanks, and conform to the requirements of water restrictions. Based on this you might conclude that households are responsible for the majority of water use in Australia. In fact, this isn’t correct.
Based on the most recent data that is available, households accounted for just 11% of water consumption in Australia. It is likely that this figure is very similar today. Most of the rest of the water is used by the commercial sector, with only a very small percentage being used by the government or “lost” (such as the water we lose due to evaporation). This figure is not consistent across the states; in Tasmania households use much more than 11% of the water, while in NSW it is 10% and in Victoria only 8%.
We have also seen a significant change in the way in which households act in regards to water. In 2001 only 11% of all households used some form of recycled water. For example, when you see a sign at the front of a house that says “this garden is maintained with reclaimed water”, it is very likely that the occupants of the house are collecting and using the rain that falls on their property. By 2005 this figure had increased to 16%, and by 2009 more than one in five homes had installed a water saving tank of some sort. Collecting water in this way allows households to maintain water use for non-essential projects (such as watering plants) without putting any pressure on the domestic water supply. More sophisticated arrangements can allow a household to use reclaimed water inside as well, such as for flushing toilets.
It is worth noting that of the water we do use, 49% of it is used in the bathroom. A standard toilet can use up to 12 litres of water for each flush. On the other hand, a toilet system that is fitted with a dual flush system may use as little as three litres. Similarly, at least 20% of the water that we use is when we clean our clothes. Efficient washing machines can use between 40 and 50 litres per wash, while an inefficient machine can use up to 100 litres for a wash. If your washing machine is using an extra 20 litres, and the machine is used five times per week, this represents 5,000 litres of water per year that could have been saved.
It is also important to remember that while businesses use the majority of water that is used in this country, this fact is only true because we continue to purchase the products that they make. By far the largest user of water in Australia is the agriculture sector. We will explore this fact in more detail on the next page, but for now it is enough to say that if this sector didn’t have access to the water that it needs, then we would not be able to purchase the fruit, vegetables, meat and other agricultural products that we need to survive.
As a result, households have an important role to play in the conservation of water in this country. The Victorian government has adopted a policy of asking people to try and use no more than 155 litres of water per person per day. Results have been inconsistent, with some areas (such as Mildura) continuing to use over 400 litres per person. Despite this, the act of informing households has resulted in impressive savings over the recent past. By 2010 Victoria had the lowest level of water use per person, and also per household, of any state in Australia. With the increasing likelihood that climate change will put more pressure on our water supplies, initiatives that make this possible will become even more prevalent in the future.
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