{"id":916165,"date":"2026-10-04T19:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T19:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/916165\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T19:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T19:56:19","slug":"western-australias-drying-climate-and-its-nation-leading-2-1-per-cent-per-annum-pace-of-population-growth-threatens-viability-and-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/916165\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Australia\u2019s drying climate and its nation-leading, 2.1 per cent per annum pace of population growth, threatens viability and sustainability."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Peter\u00a0Strachan – SPA National President:\u00a0 0412 400 952<\/p>\n

Michael Bayliss – SPA Communications Manager:\u00a0 0423 701 611<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rainwater runoff into Perth\u2019s dams has become almost immaterial, forcing increased reliance on energy intensive desalinated water and ongoing over-pumping of ever deeper aquifers.
\nIn 2024-25 Perth\u2019s Integrated Water Supply Scheme (IWSS)<\/a> supplied a total of 337 billion litres of water to customers.
\nAfter subtracting summer evaporation losses, a desperately dry 2026 autumn and winter means that Perth\u2019s rainfall collection will struggle to supply 3 per cent of Perth\u2019s total IWSS water consumption needs this year.
\nMore information on the impact of population growth on Australia\u2019s 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<\/a><\/p>\n

SPA experts are available for further comment<\/p>\n

Peter Strachan \u2013 National President, Sustainable Population Australia
Email:\u00a0 president@population<\/a>.org.au\u00a0 Phone: 0412 400 952 from 06:30am AWST<\/p>\n

\"\"
A recent short video of Mr\u00a0Strachan may be viewed HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

Quotes attributable to Peter Strachan:<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough its dependence on desalination, the state has converted a water emergency into an energy emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeanwhile, a global El Nino weather pattern has left Australia\u2019s Murray-Darling Basin food bowl, and the Southwest agricultural areas in drought.<\/p>\n

\u201cImpacts 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\u2019s southwestern coastal plains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 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?”<\/p>\n

Michael Bayliss – Communications Manager, Sustainable Population Australia
Email:\u00a0 [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Ph: 0423 701 611 from 07:00am AWST<\/p>\n

\"\"
A recent video of Mr Bayliss may be watched HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

Quotes attributable to Michael Bayliss:<\/p>\n

\u201cWA\u2019s fast growing regional city Albany, is hurtling toward a population of 50,000.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 However, every proposed desalination site for this region is environmentally problematic.<\/p>\n

\u201cEcological carrying capacity is breached when a population can no longer rely on conventional sources.\u00a0 In a sane and sensible society, this would be a clear sign to wind down on growth and development.\u00a0 Unfortunately, our current society would rather risk water insecurity for the sake of growing its population and economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSPA\u2019s 2024 water report<\/a> argues that technological \u2018solutions\u2019 to Australia\u2019s 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.”<\/p>\n

Further information<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.watercorporation.com.au\/our-water\/rainfall-and-dams\/rainfall<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.watercorporation.com.au\/our-water\/rainfall-and-dams\/streamflow<\/a><\/p>\n

Reduced rainfall compromises conventional water availability, while Perth\u2019s population increased 2.4% for the 2024 \u2013 2025 period.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Climate change, combined with the demands of a growing population, has compromised Western Australia\u2019s reliance for conventional water.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peter\u00a0Strachan – SPA National President:\u00a0 0412 400 952 Michael Bayliss – SPA Communications Manager:\u00a0 0423 701 611 Rainwater…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-916165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}