Sydney suburbs using the most and least water revealed

Residents in the affluent eastern Sydney suburb of Woollahra are using a staggering 100,000 litres more water than the average Sydney household per year. See the breakdown.

Residents in the affluent eastern Sydney suburb of Woollahra are using a staggering 100,000 litres more water than the average Sydney household per year, according to eye-watering new data.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal the water usage by residents in the inner city suburb is 33 per cent higher than usage in areas like Blacktown in Sydney’s west.

From December 2024 to January 2025, Sydney Water supplied over 99 million litres of water across Sydney, the Blue Mounts and the Illawarra - a huge increase of nearly five per cent from the 95 million litres for the same period last summer.

Spilling overflowing Warragamba dam in Greater Sydney Blue Mountains of Australia after strong torrential rains.

Woolhara, Hunters Hill, Mosman, Ku-ring-gai and Strathfield are the top five areas across the Sydney Water service network.

Sydney Water’s Conservation Manager Suhanti Thirunavukarasu said that while dam levels remain steady, residents needed to be smart.

“Residents in the Woollahra area average 304,000 litres per household annually, a stark contrast to the water-saving suburb of Kiama, which averages just 146,000 litres per household,” she said.

“The suburbs topping the water usage list are also recording yearly increases when it comes to water demand per household.

A significant finding from the data - which breaks down stand-alone properties by Local Government Area, is the increasing trend in overall water demand per household.

“This research is a good reminder to all Sydneysiders that while we’re sweating through another very warm summer around the home.

Sydney suburb of Woollahra are using a staggering 100,000 litres more water than the average Sydney household per year. Picture: iStock

“Little things like leaving the hose running to top up the pool or having extra-long showers to could you down are guaranteed to spike your water usage.”

“We are strongly encouraging all residents to be mindful of how they use water at home as Sydney’s water is a very precious resource.”

Sydney Water has developed a long-term capital and operating plan which will see more than $30 billion invested in the next ten years to upgrade and expand the water and wastewater networks.

That includes upgrades to the network and expansion to meet booming population growth.

Originally published as Sydney suburbs using the most and least water revealed