WATER SAVING NEEDED OVER LONG, HOT SUMMER
From the Minister for Water
Wednesday, 02 December 2009
Melbourne’s water storages enter summer at their second lowest level on record for this time of the year despite increasing by 173 billion litres over spring.
Water Minister Tim Holding said today’s release of Melbourne Water’s spring water figures showed that it was vital that the Government diversify the city’s sources of water and that households and industry continue their fantastic water saving efforts.
“Despite all the rain we had throughout spring, Melbourne’s storages still enter summer at only 38 per cent of capacity,” Mr Holding said.
“This shows our major water projects, like the desalination plant and the Sugarloaf Pipeline, and not rainfall alone, are the roadmap back from severe water restrictions.
“While we will not meet the Target 155 on really hot days, we need to continue to save as much water as possible over what is expected to be another hot and dry summer.
“Earlier this week we announced that Stage 3a restrictions and Target 155 would remain in place until at least 31 March 2010 when restrictions would be reviewed as major water projects continue to come online.”
After entering spring at record lows, storage levels jumped from just 28.4 per cent on 1 September to start summer at 38 per cent. At the same time last year they were 34 per cent.
The catchments received 354mm of rainfall between September and November, 112 per cent of the average. This is the first time in 12 years that we have had above average rain in spring.
Total water use by all users - industry, businesses, households and local councils - dropped to 993 million litres a day over spring compared with 1026 million litres at the same time last year.
Melburnians used on average 153 litres per person per day over the first year of operation of the Target 155 – a saving of over 16 billion litres of water from the previous year.
Mr Holding said the major water projects include:
• The Sugarloaf Pipeline which is due to begin pumping 75 billion litres of water from as early as February next year - several months ahead of schedule;
• The Desalination Project which will provide up to 150 billion litres of water each year from late 2011;and
• The Tarago Reservoir which was reconnected to Melbourne’s water supplies adding 15 billion litres of water.
Melbourne Water’s Manager of Water Supply, John Woodland, said storage levels still pointed to the need to save water over summer.
“In the past few weeks we’ve already seen reservoir levels dip once in the face of hot weather, and while the recent rain is helping them hold steady at the moment, they will start falling quickly over summer,” Mr Woodland said.
“Over the past five years, storages have dropped by an average of about 0.4% of their total capacity per week during summer.
Water Minister Tim Holding said today’s release of Melbourne Water’s spring water figures showed that it was vital that the Government diversify the city’s sources of water and that households and industry continue their fantastic water saving efforts.
“Despite all the rain we had throughout spring, Melbourne’s storages still enter summer at only 38 per cent of capacity,” Mr Holding said.
“This shows our major water projects, like the desalination plant and the Sugarloaf Pipeline, and not rainfall alone, are the roadmap back from severe water restrictions.
“While we will not meet the Target 155 on really hot days, we need to continue to save as much water as possible over what is expected to be another hot and dry summer.
“Earlier this week we announced that Stage 3a restrictions and Target 155 would remain in place until at least 31 March 2010 when restrictions would be reviewed as major water projects continue to come online.”
After entering spring at record lows, storage levels jumped from just 28.4 per cent on 1 September to start summer at 38 per cent. At the same time last year they were 34 per cent.
The catchments received 354mm of rainfall between September and November, 112 per cent of the average. This is the first time in 12 years that we have had above average rain in spring.
Total water use by all users - industry, businesses, households and local councils - dropped to 993 million litres a day over spring compared with 1026 million litres at the same time last year.
Melburnians used on average 153 litres per person per day over the first year of operation of the Target 155 – a saving of over 16 billion litres of water from the previous year.
Mr Holding said the major water projects include:
• The Sugarloaf Pipeline which is due to begin pumping 75 billion litres of water from as early as February next year - several months ahead of schedule;
• The Desalination Project which will provide up to 150 billion litres of water each year from late 2011;and
• The Tarago Reservoir which was reconnected to Melbourne’s water supplies adding 15 billion litres of water.
Melbourne Water’s Manager of Water Supply, John Woodland, said storage levels still pointed to the need to save water over summer.
“In the past few weeks we’ve already seen reservoir levels dip once in the face of hot weather, and while the recent rain is helping them hold steady at the moment, they will start falling quickly over summer,” Mr Woodland said.
“Over the past five years, storages have dropped by an average of about 0.4% of their total capacity per week during summer.
