South West Western Australia has been hit harder by climate change in terms of rainfall declines than perhaps anywhere on Earth.
While rainfall has declined by around 16% since the 1970s, runoff (and therefore inflows to dams) has declined by much more – around 80%. As a result, Water Corporation have transitioned Perth’s water supply largely away from a reliance on dams, to encompass a broader, rainfall independent set of sources such as groundwater, desalinated water and purified recycled water for drinking (PRW).
This case study is from Towards Resilience: Climate change and the urban water industry in Australia and New Zealand.