MELBOURNE must cut its water use by a third over the next 15 years to avoid running dry. The city's 1000 biggest industrial water users will also have to slash consumption under a State Government plan, announced yesterday.
Acting Premier John Thwaites said that if nothing was done by 2055, Melbourne would have a water shortfall of 178 million litres a year. The plan aims to meet the shortfall through greater efficiency in water use. Melbourne households use about 20 per cent less water now than they did during the 1990s.
The aim of the new plan is to save 330 billion litres of water a year. "By saving that amount we can ensure that we have substantial extra water into the future to meet the demand of climate change," Mr Thwaites said.
As revealed in yesterday's Herald Sun, water inspectors will have the power to issue on-the-spot fines to those who breach water restrictions.
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