MEDIA RELEASE 26 April 2007

City saving four Olympic pools a day

Hervey Bay residents are saving enough water to fill more than four Olympic swimming pools every day under Level 3.1 restrictions, according to Wide Bay Water Corporation.

WBWC senior environmental officer Jeanette McAuliffe said: "At the start of January, under Level 1 restrictions, our city was using close to 24 megalitres of water a day. Now that we are on Level 3.1 restrictions that usage has dropped to an average of 15.8 megalitres a day. That daily saving in excess of 8 megalitres is more than enough to fill up four Olympic-sized swimming pools."

Ms McAuliffe said water restrictions were introduced because summer rain had not arrived in sufficient quantities to refill Lake Lenthall which was currently only 64% full.

"We'll continue to carefully manage the use of that supply via restrictions until good rains arrive," she said. "So far most residents have responded very positively and it's only a small minority who are unhappy that they can no longer use sprinklers or irrigation systems."

Ms McAuliffe said sprinklers and irrigation systems were banned under Level 3.1 restrictions because it was the quickest and most effective way to reduce consumption.

"Under Level 2 restrictions, which began on March 30, people were still allowed to use sprinklers and irrigation systems from 8pm until 8am. However, the 24-hour logs which monitor water flow in Hervey Bay showed a spike in water consumption at 8pm when automatic watering systems were coming on. We called it the 'twin peaks' phenomenon because normally usage spikes around 6.30pm for showering and cooking but the restrictions created
a second peak because of watering systems."

She said now that automatic watering was banned the city was getting close to the daily target of 15 megalitres.

"We just need everyone to keep doing their bit to help save water whether it's choosing shower songs that are less than four minutes long a la Peter Garrett or making sure the dishwasher is fully stacked before it is turned on," she said. "While lots of us love our gardens we need to remember that drinking water should be our first priority particularly if we want to avoid the situations now facing other areas in south-east Queensland."

Level 3.1 restrictions mean that:

• All sprinklers, irrigation systems and soaker hoses are banned at all times,
• Hosing of driveways and paved areas is banned at all times, and
• All hand-held hosing is banned between 8am and 4pm except for the washing of vehicles and boats with a working trigger nozzle and for the flushing of boat motors.

For more details phone Denis Heron, Wide Bay Water Corporation on 1300 808 888.