Deluge adds just 0.1 per cent to Wivenhoe Dam

Despite cut roads, traffic chaos and flooding, this week’s downpour has barely touched the sides of southeast Queensland’s biggest dam.

Wivenhoe senior dam operator Matthew O'Reilly last October, standing in an area that should be covered in metres of water. the recent deluge has added just 0.1 per cent to the dam’s capacity. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Days of heavy rain have added a heartbreaking 0.1 per cent to the capacity of Wivenhoe Dam.

SEQ Water’s latest update, posted on Friday afternoon, showed the catchment received a healthy 54.9mm of rain in the past week.

But it has been so dry after months of blue skies that there has been virtually no run-off.

It is still at only 42.6 per cent capacity and the entire SEQ water grid is still at 56.4 per cent, a measly 0.5 per cent increase since January 31.

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If levels keep falling restrictions on households will have to come into force.

Somerset Dam is in a much healthier position, at 64.6 per cent, but also barely rose despite 78mm of rain in the past week.

The only big mover in the southeast was Noosa’s Lake Macdonald, which jumped 25.7 per cent after a whopping 195.5mm deluge.

The extreme dryness was demonstrated most clearly on the Gold Coast where its main water supply, Hinze Dam, rose just 0.4 per cent despite receiving a heft 114mm of rain since the weekend.

And the Hinze catchment, in Springbrook National Park, was already damp after earlier good falls which have turned paddocks a lush green.

But in good news, residents have heeded the water conservation message and continue to drastically cut back their usage.

Average daily consumption is down to 167 litres per person per day, way down on the 223 litres per person the same time last year.