Record-breaking heat turns up South Australia’s thirst for water

Summer has already been one for the record books as all-time high temperatures reached new heights across the state, leaving South Australians with a thirst for water – prompting record levels of water use.

So far this summer, more than 71 billion litres of water has been used by SA Water’s customers across South Australia – the highest level at this point in summer since the Millennium Drought.

The utility also logged one of the highest volumes of water consumption for a single day on record.

After crunching the data, SA Water can reveal that a total of 1.312 billion litres of water was supplied by its water treatment facilities to keep up with demand during the 24 hours to 8am on 27 January, which coincided with the warmest night ever recorded for Adelaide – a balmy minimum of 34.2°C.

To put this number into perspective, it equates to around 525 Olympic-size swimming pools of water.

The prolonged heat also led to one of the highest 5-day periods of water use, when a total of 6.413 billion litres of water was consumed between 23 January and 28 January – a daily average of 1.283 billion litres.

SA Water’s Senior Manager of Water Futures and Security Dr Ashley Kingsborough said the state’s changing climate and population growth was pushing bulk water use back up to levels experienced prior to the Millennium Drought.

“While water users in South Australia are far savvier and households are still using less water on average, we’re seeing our total water consumption shift towards where it was during the early 2000s,” Ashley said.

“The dual impact of climate pressures and our growing population is pushing overall water use higher, and this was certainly evident late last month when consumption spiked to record levels.

“Despite these levels of water use, our water treatment facilities were able to meet this significant uptick in customer demand, and the diversity and flexibility of our water resources ensures our supply remains secure across the remaining warmer months.

“Going back further, and as a result of the extremely dry conditions experienced across 2024 and for the first half of 2025, we supplied 277 billion litres of water to our customers across South Australia in 2024-25 – which is the second highest level since the turn of the century, and one of the highest ever recorded.

“During that summer alone, we supplied 90.5 billion litres of water, which was 24 per cent more compared to summer 2023-24, and 21 per cent more than the previous 10-year average.

“We’re currently on track to surpass that volume of water with less than a month of this summer to go.

“For our residential customers, this relationship shared by the weather and water use can sometimes lead to an unexpected surprise when they open their summer water bills.

“Luckily, there are a range of tips we recommend to customers that can make a meaningful impact on their water bill and soften the summer shock.

“Using a toilet’s half flush instead of the full flush is a really simple way households can reduce their water use and save money, and the amount people save depends on the age and efficiency of their toilet.

“Assuming 4 flushes per person per day, if you change from an older, single-flush toilet to a new dual-flush one, you could save $25 per person per year on your water bill.

“Older single-flush toilets use 12 litres per flush, whereas new 4-star Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) rated toilets – which we highly recommend – reduce that to 4.5 litres per flush. This represents about 11,000 of water saved per person per year.

“Showers are another easy place to make a difference. Simply cutting your shower time in half to around 4 minutes can save roughly $30 per person per year.

“While it is more challenging to quantify savings in the garden, there are a number of ways to get the most out of your watering so you use less to keep your lawn and plants green.

“This includes watering between 6pm and 9am, as well as utilising mulch, to reduce evaporation from the summer sun, watering for longer periods less frequently, and setting your mower level higher to let your lawn grow longer to shades the soil surface.

“I encourage our customers to visit sawater.com.au for more tips on saving water in and around the home.”