Nature of Water Use
Agriculture is the largest water-using sector on a global scale, consuming almost two - thirds of water drawn from rivers, lakes and groundwater. Whilst this is the case, irrigation has improved the productivity of agriculture.
Since 1960, world water use for crop irrigation has risen by over 60 and current use is predicted to double by 2050 as agriculture becomes an energy supplier for biofuels and feed stocks.
These global trends were confirmed in the ‘Australian Water Resources Assessment (2005)’ that indicated that agriculture uses 65% of all water in Australia. The next two largest water-using sectors were households (11.2%) and public water supply (11.1%). Water for public water supply includes water used for firefighting, wastewater treatment plant operations and water lost through leakage.
In metropolitan areas however, there is less water supplied to agriculture and mining and more water used by industry, households and in the service sector (hospitals, schools, government agencies).
The Department of Water forecasts 645 gigalitres of total water use by all sectors in 2008. The Water Corporation will access about 40% of this for public water supply.
The IWSS water grid supplies water to people in Perth (85%), Goldfields and Agricultural region (10%) and Mandurah and towns in the South West (5%). Most water is used by households.
Water used in the outdoors, laundry and toilet does not have to be of drinking water quality. Water Forever will explore the best options (where water is treated to a standard suitable for its end use) and ways to achieve greater water savings in these areas.
Business and industry use approximately 21% of the total public water supply. About 5% of metropolitan businesses use 70% of all business water demand.
The Water Corporation targets high water using businesses (those that use more than 20,000 kilolitres a year) through its Waterwise Business Program. These businesses generally include heavy industry (Kwinana), brewers, laundries, office buildings, major hotels, food manufacturers, universities, shopping centres and hospitals. To date 209 businesses have participated in the program.
Water Forever will identify further opportunities to increase water recycling and water use efficiency in business and industry.