ABSTRACT
Water is a valuable resource and although there are some regions that have more than they need, long periods of drought impact on a large proportion of the world population. The developed world in particular is profligate with the resources it has, with nations such as the USA and Australia having daily per capita abstraction rates of 4740 and 3562 litres per person respectively, compared with 630 litres for the UK. 1 Estimates for developing countries vary from 50 to 100 litres/person/day. These data cover water supplying agriculture, industry, households and commercial demand. The corresponding rates drawn off by households are 575 litres/person/day in the USA, 493 in Australia and 150 in the UK. This compares with household use of 20 litres/person/day in countries such as Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda. 2
