One per cent away — voluntary water restrictions near

Southeast Queenslanders will be encouraged to cut water usage to 150 litres per person per day if dam levels fall just one more per cent.

Wivenhoe Dam is now down to its lowest level in a decade. Picture: SEQWATER

The combined level in the southeast’s major dams is now so low residents could soon be asked to voluntarily cut water use to 150 litres per person, per day.

The Gold Coast desalination plant’s production will also be ramped up if combined levels fall to 60 per cent.

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As of Friday, the level was sitting at just 61 per cent, the latest Seqwater consumption report revealed.

However compulsory water restrictions would not kick in until capacity dropped to 50 per cent.

There is hope for rain though, with a La Nina event predicted this season that could see much-needed rainfall over summer.

Bare earth showing near the Wivenhoe Dam wall. Picture: SEQWATER

Acres of blackened trees surround Wivenhoe Dam in the wake of the recent fires.

Wivenhoe, by far the largest dam in the SEQ network, is now sitting at 45 per cent capacity, a 10-year low.

It has been so dry fires ravaged parts of the shoreline at the dam earlier this year.

However the water supply picture across southeast Queensland is varied, with some minor smaller dams near capacity or overflowing.

Poona Dam on the Sunshine Coast is spilling, Noosa’s Lake Macdonald is only 0.3 per cent from spilling and Wappa Dam, also on the Sunshine Coast, is 0.4 per cent from full.

Hinze Dam on the Gold Coast is at 91.6 per cent.

An Seqwater spokesman said the desalination plant had the ability to provide up to 133 million litres of drinking water a day.

He said while it was not certain to predict exactly when, or even if, 50 per cent combined levels would be reached, it was likely that southeast Queensland was at least another wet season away from needing mandatory restrictions.