The city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia has been recognised as having high quality drinking water, but like other urban cities in the world, its growing population means increasing water demand. Melbourne is also already on its eight year of dry climatic conditions and is currently experiencing a drought that forced water authorities to impose water restrictions after 20 years of unrestricted supply. The current drought, dwindling supplies and possible impact of climate change highlight the importance of making better use of this precious resource. The Water Resources Strategy has been developed for Melbourne, which serve as the basis for the Victorian Government to set per capita consumption reduction targets of 15%, 25% and 30% by 2010, 2015 and 2020 respectively. The strategy was developed to ensure a continuation of a safe, reliable and cost effective water supply that is environmentally sustainable in the long term. This is in recognition that population growth and water consumption will eventually require additional supplies of water (Water Resources Strategy Committee for the Melbourne Area 2002). One of the key findings of the National Land and Water Resources Audit's Australian Water Resources Assessment 2000 is the lack of detailed knowledge about the end use (Australian Water Association 2001). The
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/210108 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Gato, Shirley, s3024038@rmit.edu.au |
| Publisher | RMIT University. Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.rmit.edu.au/help/disclaimer, Copyright Shirley Gato |
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