After a few years of moderate change in urban water demand, recent years (2013–14) have seen an increase in water demand from larger urban water-consuming areas across Australia. National Water Account figures for Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth generally saw increases in water abstraction, urban claim and household water supply.
For Sydney, the urban water supply in 2013–14 was 557,820 megalitres (ML), a marginal increase from 543,311 ML in 2012–13 and 502,296 ML in 2011–12 (Figure WAT6; Table WAT2). In the latter 2 years, this demand was supplied primarily from surface-water sources, whereas in 2010–11 and 2011–12, some 12–15 per cent was supplied by the Kurnell desalination plant.
For Melbourne, south-east Queensland (including Brisbane) and Perth, similar moderate growth is seen in urban water supply (Table WAT2; BoM 2013a, 2014b, 2015b). This growth reflects the combined effects of population and per-person consumption.