Water demand to grow by trillion litres

Perth will need more than 80 per cent more water by 2056 to cater for the city's predicted population explosion, a new national water report says.

Alarming projections by the Water Services Association of Australia also show that nationwide by 2026 an extra 600 billion litres will be needed, while by 2056, Australian demands will have escalated to an additional trillion litres from the 2009 figures.

Water Services Association executive director Ross Young warned yesterday that even conservative estimates showed that if the national population hit 31 million in 2056, Australian capitals would need an extra 961 billion litres a year.

In Perth, the worst case scenario was a 2.4 million population by 2026 demanding 308 gigalitres, a huge jump on the 250 gigalitres used last year.
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