Adapting urban water systems to a changing climate: Lessons from the millennium drought in southeast Australia

SB Grant; TD Fletcher; D Feldman; JD Saphores; PLM Cook; M Stewardson; K Low; K Burry; AJ Hamilton

Journal article

Adapting urban water systems to a changing climate: Lessons from the millennium drought in southeast Australia

SB Grant, TD Fletcher, D Feldman, JD Saphores, PLM Cook, M Stewardson, K Low, K Burry, AJ Hamilton

Environmental Science and Technology | Published : 2013

DOI: 10.1021/es400618z

Abstract

Australia’s Millennium Drought transformed how Melbourne, a city of 4 million people, secures and uses its water resources. By thriving in the face of drought, Melbourne’s example provides valuable lessons for other major metropolitan areas around the worldin particular, those located in the Southwest region of the United Statesthat face long-term reductions and increased variability in their water supply.

University of Melbourne Researchers

Tim Fletcher Author

Michael Stewardson Author

Andrew Hamilton Author

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Funding Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge data provided by Melbourne Water, comments on the manuscript from A. Deletic and R. Brown, and financial support from the U.S. National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (OISE-1243543). Fletcher is supported by an ARC Future Fellowship (FT100100144).