Western Australia's drying climate and its nation-leading, 2.1 per cent per annum pace of population growth, threatens viability and sustainability.

Sustainable Population Australia

Peter Strachan - SPA National President: 0412 400 952

Michael Bayliss - SPA Communications Manager: 0423 701 611

Rainwater runoff into Perth’s dams has become almost immaterial, forcing increased reliance on energy intensive desalinated water and ongoing over-pumping of ever deeper aquifers.
In 2024-25 Perth’s Integrated Water Supply Scheme (IWSS) supplied a total of 337 billion litres of water to customers.
After subtracting summer evaporation losses, a desperately dry 2026 autumn and winter means that Perth’s rainfall collection will struggle to supply 3 per cent of Perth’s total IWSS water consumption needs this year.
More information on the impact of population growth on Australia’s water security can be read in the Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) discussion paper Big thirsty Australia: how population growth threatens our water security and sustainability

SPA experts are available for further comment

Peter Strachan – National President, Sustainable Population Australia
Email: president@population.org.au Phone: 0412 400 952 from 06:30am AWST

A recent short video of Mr Strachan may be viewed HERE.

Quotes attributable to Peter Strachan:

“Through its dependence on desalination, the state has converted a water emergency into an energy emergency.

“Meanwhile, a global El Nino weather pattern has left Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin food bowl, and the Southwest agricultural areas in drought.

“Impacts of an expanding population globally, including more emissions from economic activity and destruction of carbon sinks, has expanded climate change. This is no more evident than along Western Australia’s southwestern coastal plains.

“In a world of increasing geopolitical turmoil, exposing logistical bottlenecks for energy and food supply, real scarcity of food and materials threaten misery and hunger, how can any sane person believe that never-ending population growth is the best path forward?"

Michael Bayliss - Communications Manager, Sustainable Population Australia
Email: [email protected] Ph: 0423 701 611 from 07:00am AWST

A recent video of Mr Bayliss may be watched HERE.

Quotes attributable to Michael Bayliss:

“WA’s fast growing regional city Albany, is hurtling toward a population of 50,000. Despite having one of the rainiest climates in the state, it is running out of conventional water, and the Water Corporation is desperately seeking desalination sites. However, every proposed desalination site for this region is environmentally problematic.

“Ecological carrying capacity is breached when a population can no longer rely on conventional sources. In a sane and sensible society, this would be a clear sign to wind down on growth and development. Unfortunately, our current society would rather risk water insecurity for the sake of growing its population and economy.

“SPA’s 2024 water report argues that technological ‘solutions’ to Australia’s water crisis are dangerously flawed. Expanded desalination, rather than being a solution, is a further symptom of the financial, environmental and social costs of population growth. The paper argues strongly for net migration to return to pre-2005 average levels, around 70,000 per year, to achieve a stabilised population size."

Further information

https://www.watercorporation.com.au/our-water/rainfall-and-dams/rainfall

https://www.watercorporation.com.au/our-water/rainfall-and-dams/streamflow

Reduced rainfall compromises conventional water availability, while Perth’s population increased 2.4% for the 2024 – 2025 period.

Climate change, combined with the demands of a growing population, has compromised Western Australia’s reliance for conventional water.