During fiscal year 2021, over 33.5 million megaliters of water were consumed by industry, while around 34 thousand megaliters were consumed by households in the Australian state of Tasmania. While New South Wales had the highest household consumption of water, Tasmania had the highest consumption from industry.
Groundwater is also an important water source in Australia for a wide range of other purposes, such as irrigation, agriculture and industrial use. In fact, irrigation practices account for just over half of all groundwater used by Australians.
Globally, 70 percent of freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture.
Western Australians (at one hour and 51 minutes per day) are the nation's biggest tapwater users.
Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry - groundwater and sea water for desalination, Australia.
Farming remains by far the biggest drain on Australia's water supply at nearly 70% of the water footprint. Half of Australia's agricultural profits comes from irrigated farming which is concentrated in the Murray-Darling Basin.
With an average annual rainfall of only 469mm per year, Australia's water situation is quite dire. Australia is also the driest continent inhabited by humans, with very limited freshwater sources.
The packaged water industry uses groundwater as its main source of high-quality, refreshing water.
The states and territories with the most reliance on groundwater are Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and New South Wales (Figures 4b,c).
Agriculture. 70% of the world's freshwater is used for agriculture. In Europe, this sector requires 44% of freshwater resources. This is due to agriculture's water use for irrigation, fertiliser and pesticide application, crop cooling, and frost control.
We know that industrial water consumption places strain on the world's limited water supply. In fact, the agricultural and industrial sectors account for approximately 90% of direct water withdrawals.
Australia is the driest populated continent on Earth, and yet Australia uses more water per person than most other countries in the world. Much can be done in the home and garden to reduce water use and the impacts of stormwater and wastewater on surrounding ecosystems.
Reducing runoff in agriculture
By far, the industry that uses the most water in Australia is agriculture.
Australia imports most of its Packaged drinking water from India, Vietnam and is the largest importer of Packaged drinking water in the World.
Countries with the highest water waste:
China: 362 trillion gallons/year. United States: 216 trillion gallons/year. Brazil: 95 trillion gallons/year. Russia: 71 trillion gallons/year.
Consumption volume of bottled water worldwide 2020, by leading countries. In 2020, China had the highest consumption volume of bottled water worldwide, at approximately 27.8 billion gallons of bottled water per person.
After putting their tastebuds to the test a group of thirsty judges has decided the best drinking water in the country is from the Richmond Valley Council in the New South Wales Northern Rivers region.
Melbourne Water is proud to have taken out top honours at the Ixom Best Tasting Tap Water in Australia competition. The prestigious prize was awarded to a sample from our Cresswell Water Treatment Plant at the Water Industry Operators Association of Australia's hotly contested competition in Casino, New South Wales.
Canada is richly endowed with water. Possessing one of the largest renewable supplies of freshwater in the world, it has access to upwards of 20% of the world's surface freshwater and 7% of the world's renewable water flow.
Annual flow in some rivers across southern Australia were the lowest on record, particularly in parts of New South Wales. In the Murray–Darling Basin, flow in most of the rivers had reached record low levels by December 2019.
Under climate change, droughts in Australia will become more frequent and severe . Our drinking water supplies, and water crucial for irrigation and the environment, will dwindle again.