21 February 2005
The International Water Association (IWA) estimates up to 20 per cent of Australia's water supply is lost from underground pipes.
Tim Waldron is a member of the IWA Water Loss Task Force and will be part of an international workshop on the Gold Coast in Queensland this week.
He says global warming is expected to impact heavily on water availability in the coming decades.
"One prediction is that by the year 2080 Australia will only have 50 per cent of the surface water that it has at the moment," he said.
"If that's anywhere near true, we are going to have to conserve water and manage the water systems in a far, far better way than we do at the moment."
