The Cost of Household Water
November 30th, 2012
What this means is the average price of water per household has increased by 16.2 percent, while average consumption has decreased by 7.9 percent. These rising costs are associated partly with increasing demand in other areas, with the agricultural industry having the biggest thirst. "The agriculture industry accounted for over half of Australia's total water consumption using 7,175 gigalitres which represented a 3 per cent increase from 2009-10.'' said Mr Lound. The situation is similar in New Zealand, with some regional councils placing limits on water use in an attempt to reduce demand.
Limiting water use is a controversial subject however, with the recent Murray-Darling basin plan in Australia still a thorny subject in many irrigation districts and regional towns. Things are just as divided across the Tasman, with the New Zealand First Party recently coming out in opposition to the concept of charging for water. According to Richard Prosser from the Party, “Water falls from the sky for nothing."
Rivers around the world are starting to get smaller however, with even huge rivers like the Colorado, the Yellow, the Murray-Darling, and t [...]
