MEDIA RELEASE Friday 2 March, 2007

Recent rain won't lift restrictions

Tighter water restrictions could be just around the corner for Hervey Bay residents in spite of recent rainfall, according to Wide Bay Water.

CEO Tim Waldron said Lake Lenthall, the reservoir for the city's water supply, was worryingly low for this time of year.
"We rely on summer rains to replenish our water supply each year," he said. "If more rain doesn't arrive soon the probability of filling the lake before next summer is low."

The catchment area for Lake Lenthall is at Musket Flat, south-west of Hervey Bay.

In the week starting February 11, the area received 115mm of rain which added 1016 megalitres to the Bay’s water supply.

Mr Waldron estimates this is around 25 days supply.
"The best thing about the rain is that the catchment is now wet," he said. "Any follow up rain will produce a good yield because waterholes are filled and ground water is replenished so the excess will go straight into our supply."

As of Friday, Lake Lenthall was holding 65% of its capacity. It normally reaches 100% during summer.

The dam reached its lowest level ever at the start of 1998 when it fell below half its capacity before being filled by flooding January rain. These figures don't include the additional capacity created by the recent installation of state-of-the-art dam gates. "We're in trouble if it doesn't rain sufficiently by the end of March," he said. "And matters will be made worse if consumption goes back to the high levels experienced before the rain".

During the last few weeks consumption dropped to approximately 14 million litres a day during and between the rainy periods. "This reduction stopped me having to fetch in tougher restrictions, but if the demand shoots up again, then I will have no other option than to fetch in level 3 restrictions" said Mr Waldron.

Level 2 Water Restrictions were introduced on 19 January this year.

"We're urging residents to be Waterwise to avoid tougher enforced restrictions and to help use this precious resource responsibly," said Mr Waldron.

Waterwise tips:

• Plant drought-hardy native shrubs in your garden.
• Let your lawn die off during dry periods. It regenerates after the first rains as shown by green lawns now seen around Hervey Bay.
• Don't mow too low. Very short lawn requires more water. A thickness of 25-30 mm is recommended.
• Mulch your garden well to reduce evaporation and consider a drip irrigation system which gets water straight to the plants' root system.

Level 2 Water Restrictions remain current

Hosing of driveways and pavements: BANNED AT ALL TIMES

All sprinklers, irrigation systems and soaker hoses: BANNED 5.30am to 8pm

Hand held hosing: BANNED 8am and 4pm except for washing of vehicles and boats with a working trigger nozzle and the flushing of boat motors.

Bucket watering and washing STILL ALLOWED.

For more information contact Denis Heron at Wide Bay Water Corporation on 1300 808 888.