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Thursday May 23rd, 2013
Why water prices are rising
From "Water use slashed but bills up 95 per cent" - Tom Arup, The Age, November 30, 2010
HOUSEHOLDS have slashed their water use but been hit by bills up to 95 per cent higher over a five-year period, national figures show.
In the fourth edition of the national water accounts, released yesterday, the Bureau of Statistics says households used 16 per cent less water in 2008-09 than they did in 2004-05.
But water prices across the country for all sectors jumped from an average 40¢ for every 1000 litres in 2004-05 to 78 cents in 2008-09, a rise of 95 per cent…
Professor Quentin Grafton, chairman of Australian National University’s Water Initiative, said yesterday that the increases in urban water prices had been driven by billion-dollar investments by governments in desalination plants, and price rises would continue as a result.