the most. Seventy-six per cent of the population live on low incomes. There are some 20 million houses, of which only about 51% have taps; 1.5% rely on public taps and 18.2% are supplied by private tankers, for which the charges are 500 times those of the domestic users. Bottled water demand is increasing by some 15% per year. The water system loses some 1.9 billion cubic metres every year due to leakage (UNESCO, 2004) and relies on groundwater for 80% of its supplies. Due to over-abstraction planners are now considering using sources up to 200 km away. To do this, the unit cost of water would have to rise from USD 1.34 to USD 5.36 per m³, potentially making it unaffordable (Castelan, 2001). In addition, there are serious water quality concerns. Although there are 13 water treatment plants, many dating from the mid-1990s, they are frequently not in use due to either a lack of operating funds or a lack of water. In 1993 the water delivery system was subdivided among four water MNCs, which has led to charges of escalation of tariffs, high disconnection rates and underinvestment. In 1997-2000 the World Bank invested in a Master Plan for water for the city. Unfortunately, although there have been some improvements, there are cultural problems, with lack of commitment, limited institutional capacity and high costs of solving the major problems militating against substantial improvements. A major success has been the programme for water recovery (leakage management), which has recovered some 5 m3/s at an investment cost of USD 50 million. This has offset the need for many of the major water transfers planned at a fraction of the cost (10%). Australia Australia, while seemingly very arid, has high localised rainfall (1 100 mm per year in the Sydney catchments) compared with other countries (the East of England has 450 mm per year). It has water infrastructure that in places is some 100 years old, but low leakage rates (10%). Due in part to high immigration and a series of droughts (the 1980s prompted action), efforts ha