$220 fines for water restriction breaches apply from September 1
Any rain that fell over the city’s water catchments in the past week has not made any impact on our dwindling dam levels. Water restrictions are still in place, with community water officers set to give on-the-spot $220 fines for any breaches from today.
NSW
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It was the much-needed rain that drenched gardens across Sydney and the Central Coast, but it didn’t make the slightest difference to the city’s dam levels.
Rainfall figures from the past four days showed Sydney Observatory Hill registered 70mm, St Ives registered 104mm and Gosford on the Central Coast registered 206mm.
Any rain that fell over the city’s water catchments soaked straight into the bone dry ground, as there wasn’t the 60mm of saturating rain required for run-off.
“The rain was focused on the northern half of Sydney, Newcastle and the Central Coast, but not sufficiently inland for the catchment areas,” Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Helen Reid said.
“It was wet where people live but people don’t live near the dams.”
The Sydney storage remains unchanged at 49.8 per cent capacity and the critical Warragamba Dam held steady at 51 per cent.
From today, Community Water Officers on patrol will slap $220 on-the-spot fine comes on anyone found in breach of the new water restrictions.
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Hoses must have trigger nozzles or wands, lawns must be watered before 10am or after 4pm and sprinklers or watering systems are banned except for drip irrigation or smart watering systems that automatically adjust to soil moisture or water conditions.
Hosing hard surfaces like paths and driveways is banned and the only way to clean cars, boats and buildings is with a bucket of water.
Businesses in breach will be handed $550 fines.
“Water restrictions will mean households across Sydney are doing their bit to conserve this precious resource,” Water Minister Melinda Pavey said.
“Reducing shower time by one minute can save around nine litres of water every shower, or 45 million litres of water across the city, every day.”
It will be a sunny and dry Father’s Day, with mostly sunny weather forecast with light winds and a maximum temperature of 21.
Temperatures will remain in the low 20s for Monday and Tuesday before rising to the mid-20s on Wednesday and Thursday.
Rain is not forecast to fall this week, according to the BOM.