An Australian Bureau of Statistics survey on water use and conservation issued on Wednesday showed fewer households nationwide were taking steps to save water in the garden than five years ago.

The ACT experienced a 20 per cent fall, in line with the national average, as rainfall and water storage volumes have risen.

In 2007, 78 per cent of ACT residents said they took steps to save water in the garden, but that figure fell to 59 per cent by May this year.

ACTEW Water said overall consumers were using less than in the past and savings were more than three times government targets.

The ABS survey will help guide COAG National Water Initiative as it creates Australia's national plan for water reform.

A key objective of that is to increase the efficiency of water use and manage urban demands.

Just over half of the Australian households that had a garden used town water as their main source for gardening but usage of rainwater tanks has increased.

The number of ACT households with rainwater tanks has more than doubled in five years, from 6.7 per cent to 15 per cent, ranking the territory ahead of only Western Australia, although Northern Territory data was not available.

The states with the highest use of tanks were South Australia (45 per cent), Queensland (33.9) and Victoria (29.5). Factors influencing tank popularity included water restrictions, water pricing and government rebate schemes.

Despite the low use of tank water, the ACT ranked second highest in the use of recycled or grey water, with 7.9 per cent of Canberrans using it on their gardens.

Despite the popularity of bottled water, nine out of 10 households in capital cities reported that tap water was their main source for drinking.

ACT households are the happiest with their drinking water in Australia with 95 per cent satisfied with the water quality.