Some remote Australian communities have access to drinking water for only nine hours a day for part of the year, but these households can still use up to ten times the average of urban households.
Many communities in the Torres Strait Islands have their mains water supply limited to nine hours a day during the week, and 16 hours a day at weekends, during the six-month dry season from May to October.
Some remote Aboriginal communities in mainland Australia have similar restrictions.
The challenge, therefore, is finding ways to manage this unsustainable water use, apart from physically turning off the water.
The data revealed an average daily use of 900 litres per person, rising to more than 4,000L per person per day in some cases.
We then broke down household water use into categories such as showering and outdoor, and discussed water use habits with each participating household.
We found five key drivers for this high outdoor water use (aside from leaks): dust control (and flea control) from non-surfaced roads and yards cooling down (watering the house roof and bare earth or concrete driveways to create an evaporative effect) washing down boats and fishing or hunting equipment physical amenity (gardening or greening) social amenity (having a continuous source of tap water was an important resource during social gatherings, including sorry camps, tombstone openings, cultural events and extended family gatherings).
Reducing drivers of high water use In urban areas, outdoor household water use is often described as “discretionary”.
Our team, together with the participants and local service providers, trialled a water efficiency pilot program.
This involved both residents and local councils learning about the importance of conserving water and offering suggestions on ways to do this.