Thanks for this interesting contribution Tim.
As water resource planners, there are some things that are outside our influence like whether the population and overall economy is growing. However we shouldn’t necessarily accept that a growing population and economy automatically leads to an increase in water demand. Instead we are looking for water efficiency measures and reductions in consumption per person to offset any growth pressures and reduce overall water demand.
I’ve posted more about regenerative agriculture here. Such measures can help with reducing water demand but also bring other environmental benefits. We are actively looking for opportunities to meet water resources needs and bring environmental benefits. So if anyone has ideas for particular catchments please let us know.
Seeking opportunities to reduce demand is the first place we are looking to meet our future water needs, but there may be times or places when this can’t meet all our needs. So we also need to think about other options.
Further comments welcome – please share.