According to the water usage statistics by Our World in Data, China is the biggest consumer of water for domestic purposes like cleaning, cooking, drinking, and washing and uses over 70 billion m3 annually.
Countries with the highest water waste:
China: 362 trillion gallons/year. United States: 216 trillion gallons/year.
Each person uses an average of 100,000 litres of water per year, which works out to 274 litres per day. If you take this information and apply it to an average Australian family household of two adults and two children, that works out to more than 30,000 litres each month.
Water usage in Australia
Crops including cereals, cotton, and sugar cane all require large volumes of water for irrigation. The Murray-Darling Basin, one of the largest and most significant agricultural areas in Australia, depends on access to millions of liters of water each year for agricultural purposes.
Australia is the driest populated continent on Earth, and yet Australia uses more water per person than most other countries in the world.
For example, Australia has only a small portion of the world's water resources but also has a small population, so it has more water available per person than Asia, which has far more water but a much bigger population.
Some of the western states of the United States, Chile, South Africa, Australia, Iran and Spain's Canary Islands have water trading schemes. Some consider Australia's to be the most sophisticated and effective in the world. Some other countries, especially in South Asia, also have informal water trading schemes.
Food waste produced annually in selected countries worldwide 2020. China and India produce more household food waste than any other country worldwide at an estimated 92 million and 69 million metric tons every year, respectively.
Due to continual economic growth and population size, China is one of the world's leading water consumers. China withdraws roughly 600 billion cubic meters of water on a yearly basis. The country surpasses the United States by 120 billion cubic meters and falls short of India by 160 billion cubic meters.
At the continental level, America has the largest share of the world's total freshwater resources with 45 percent, followed by Asia with 28 percent, Europe with 15.5 percent and Africa with 9 percent.
CN: Water Consumption: City: Daily per Capita: Residential data was reported at 185.030 l in 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of 179.396 l for 2020.
The top four owners of water entitlements by country are Canada with 2.0 percent of the total Australian water entitlement on issue, the US with 1.6 percent, China with 1.5 percent, and the UK with 1.0 percent.
When measured by average wealth, Australia is fourth behind Switzerland, the United States and Hong Kong, reflecting that wealth is more evenly distributed in Australia than in those countries. Australia had about 2.2 million millionaires (calculated in US dollars) in 2021, up from 1.8 million millionaires in 2020.
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. Sydney, Australia's most populous city, is among those that must prepare for the next drought.
Melbourne Water is proud to have taken out top honours at the Ixom Best Tasting Tap Water in Australia competition.
In terms of rainfall, Australia is the driest inhabited continent, and the amount of rainwater that enters rivers is also very low. On average, only 12% of rainfall flows into rivers in Australia, compared to 39% for Europe and 52% for North America.
During fiscal year 2021, approximately 0.81 megaliters of water were consumed per capita in Tasmania. This was the highest per capita consumption across all states in Australia, and was largely attributed to high industry water consumption.
Australia's exceptional aridity is the result of a unique combination of factors. Cold ocean currents off the west coast means there is little evaporation to form rainclouds, while the Great Dividing Range that runs down Australia's east coast prevents rain from penetrating far inland.
Dry conditions were experienced across most of Australia for the second successive year. Combined water storage across Australia on 30 June 2020 was 46 per cent of capacity, similar to the previous year. Total water taken in Australia for consumptive use was 14 270 GL, six per cent less than the previous year.
Seven hundred kilometres south of Alice Springs, Oodnadatta sits in the hot, dry heart of the Australian outback. Here, temperatures regularly rise past the mid thirties and rain is rarely seen.