Perth households are the biggest domestic water guzzlers in the nation.
The National Water Commission reports that each home in Perth uses 276 kilolitres a year, which is double the amount households in Melbourne and Brisbane use.
But what is behind this alarming rate of water consumption?
Do Perth residents shower more, or pour more water onto their gardens than Melburnians? Are there more backyard pools, or do they just like to wash their cars more frequently?
As winter turned into spring this week, the State Government lifted its total ban on using garden sprinklers.
But at the same time, it is urging people not to rush out and switch on their reticulation, because the weather bureau says more rain is on the way.
And the dams still are not full.
The Water Minister Bill Marmion says the total sprinkler ban over winter saved an estimated four billion litres of water, or four Subiaco Ovals filled with water to the top of the goal posts.
“Despite moderate rainfall in July and August, dams remain at just 30 per cent full,” Mr Marmion said at the launch of the Water Corporation’s latest water saving campaign.
Over the past month, Perth was presented with a ‘Save 60’ campaign, telling households to save just six buckets of water a week, which equates to 60 litres per day.
“I hope the community gets on board like last year and supports these initiatives so the government can avoid tougher water restrictions in the future,” he said.
The Water Corporation’s water efficiency manager Ben Jarvis says ‘Save 60’ was an overwhelmingly successful campaign.
“We got a saving of about 70 litres per person per day, that’s more than 10 per cent reduction per person,” he said.
“People are aware of the water situation, they want to save water and it’s about helping them to do so.”
Through the campaign, the corporation promoted water saving ideas that people could try, such as; only running washing machines and dishwashers when full, reducing irrigation times, mulching the garden, showering for a minute less and changing to a water-efficient shower head.
Mr Jarvis says it is important to focus on residential water use, because that sector uses 73 per cent of the city’s scheme (mains) water, compared to the 18 per cent used by businesses, both small and large.
In deep water
But despite the savings, Perth still leads the way in water wastage.
“Perth has always had fairly high consumption due to our sandy soils and the nature of our rainfall patterns,” Mr Jarvis said.
“Also, Queensland and Melbourne have both come out of very draconian water restrictions.”
Recent droughts and ensuing water restrictions in those states led to drastic drops in water consumption levels.
People in Melbourne were only allowed to wash their car with a bucket and not allowed to water their lawns at all with scheme water.
And in 2007, as Brisbane was in the throes of its worst drought on record, water restrictions included on the spot fines for water wasting offences and a ‘dob in a neighbour’ program.
However Mr Jarvis thinks Perth can improve its water saving, without severe restrictions in place.
“We’ve made some good efforts over the past 10 years, our per capita consumption has reduced by about 25 per cent, the equivalent of saving the two desalination plants worth of water as well,” he said.
“We’ve seen some really great savings there but we’re still fairly high, so there’s still a lot more opportunity for saving.”
So where does all the water go?
“It’s really in the garden,” Mr Jarvis said.
“About 43 per cent of our water usage is in the garden between irrigation and hand watering.”
The second biggest water user is showers and baths, using about 25 per cent of household water.
“Then you’ve got things like washing machine usage and toilets, which use about eight or nine per cent each,” Mr Jarvis said.
“We have to change the mindset that we live in a hot, dry climate, so we have to use a lot of water, instead changing that to we live in a hot dry climate so we can’t use a lot of water.”
The tide is turning
So if gardens are the biggest offenders, what can be done to reduce water waste?
One man who has been trying to turn around the way West Australians think about gardening, is Garry Heady from Beyond Gardens.
“We’ve got a very hot, dry environment, incredibly sandy soils that don’t hold much moisture and a love affair with plants that don’t suit our environment,” Mr Heady said.
“You can actually have the garden you like, but not waste the water, through some clever garden practices.”
He and a team of volunteer experts have been holding workshops across the state to get that message out.
Those clever practices, summed up, are relatively simple, starting with improving the soil.
“Turn our sand into a loam, which can be done, quite easily.”
Mr Heady also suggested stopping the water evaporating out of the soil by adding a water-wise mulch.
Also important is to change the way you water, by watering the roots with drip irrigation, not the leaves of a plant with a fine misty spray which blows away, and to reduce the amount of fertiliser used.
Mr Heady says the way many people in Perth garden is like trying to fill up a bathtub with no plug in, they pour the water on, but do not get anywhere.
He said the Water Corporation website has a wealth of information for people wanting to learn how to be water-wise in their gardens.
“The majority of people who come to our workshops have tried and tried and have got to point that nothing has worked and we just simplify it for them and they can have the garden they want with less water and without wasting money,” he said.
So while Perth residents are officially allowed to turn their sprinklers back on this week, armed with a little bit of knowledge, they may be able to lose the title of the nation’s biggest water wasters.
