Sustainable urban water use produces direct tangible benefits for the water utility, the consumer and the environment. This paper is part of a special issue of the BEDP Environment Design Guide illustrating the application of various design and technological improvements in and outside the building that improve the water cycle in urban and regional areas. The special issue seeks to consolidate that knowledge by examining the regulatory context and present advances in thinking with respect to the use and reuse of water on the world’s driest inhabited continent.