Water and Wastage in Melbourne

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An interesting Letter to the Editor has come my way to-day.  Unfortunately, no date and no indication of the Editor of what newspaper or journal.  However, the comment is so interesting that I wish to share it:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Melbourne water usage

According to the weekly water report dated May 29 on the Melbourne Water website, Melbournians used just 142 litres per person per day during the previous week.

The 2006 census states that the population of Melbourne was 3.74 million having increased by 273,000 from the previous count in 2001, it would therefore be very generous to suggest that the current population is any greater than 4 million.

4 million people multiplied by 142 litres per day multiplied by 7 days in a week equates to 3.97 billion litres of water.

The same water report indicates that storage levels dropped by 6.1 billion litres. If we use the same methodology that has been used to calculate irrigation system losses it would appear that Melbourne water is losing or wasting 2.13 billion litres of water a week and that the system is operating at an efficiency of just 65%.

There is of course the possibility that Melbournians are actually using in excess of 217 litres per person!

Neil Pankhurst
1175 Griffin Rd
TONGALA Vic. 3621
0428507166