Water efficiency

Reducing demand for water by households and business (145 billion litres a year by 2015)

Water efficiency programs: saving 145 billion litres a year by 2015 Thanks to the water-saving efforts of homes and businesses in the greater Sydney region, we are using the same amount of water now as in the early 1970s - even with an extra 1.4 million people.

We can't become complacent though. There are plenty of ways you can get involved in continuing to use water wisely.

We've already embraced a range of innovative programs to use water more efficiently in homes, businesses and public facilities, including:

a total of almost one million residential water efficiency rebates and offers since the water efficiency program began:

More than 470,000 homes have received a WaterFix since 2000 saving 10 billion litres a year
Nearly 201,000 free Do-it-yourself Water Saving Kits have been given away saving 786 million litres a year

Water Wise Rules which have saved an estimated 19 billion litres of drinking water since they were introduced in June 2009. New homes are being designed to use 40 percent less water from Sydney�s mains water supply.
Businesses are also playing their part with over 400 organisations taking part in Sydney Water�s Every Drop Counts Business Program, saving about 17 billion litres of water a year.
Sydney Water�s leak reduction programs are estimated to be saving around 30 billion litres a year through investing almost $100 million and inspecting more than 20,000 kilometres of pipes.
Find out more in Chapter 6 of the 2010 Metropolitan Water Plan.