MEDIA RELEASE 27 Aug 2007

Rain boosts dam from record lows

Last week's unseasonal rain deluge has provided a welcome boost to Hervey Bay's water supply saving the city from tighter restrictions, says Wide Bay Water Corporation.

"Just a week ago Lake Lenthall was at 51% capacity which was the lowest we had seen it at this time of the year," said CEO Tim Waldron. "However the bucketing of rain last week has boosted the lake to 78.5% and slightly rising - which is excellent news for the city."

Mr Waldron said the dam had received more than 5300 megalitres of water since the rains began which equated to the volume of 2600 Olympic swimming pools.

Figures showed 110mmm fell at Lake Lenthall while 142mm fell at Muskat Flat which is the main catchment area for the dam.

"Just imagine the result if we had received the 950mm of rain that Rainbow Beach received in the same time," said Mr Waldron.

"We still need to carefully manage our supply but this rain certainly saves us from having to introduce tighter water restrictions which were just a matter of days away."

Mr Waldron said level 3.1 water restrictions would remain in place, due to the total storage still being relatively low to see Hervey Bay through two wet seasons.

"We can only hope that this is the start of much more rain to come this summer," he said. "We have additional capacity in the dam thanks to the CrestGates we installed this year and we're looking forward to their christening."

"In the meantime we have the hottest time of the year just in front of us, therefore I ask the residents of Hervey Bay to still comply with Level 3.1 water restrictions and be waterwise. Remember every drop counts."

Level 3.1 water restrictions are:

• All sprinklers, irrigation systems and soaker hoses are banned at all times
• Hosing of driveways and paved areas is banned at all times
• 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.