NSW water restrictions eased on first day of summer

Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra have been at Level 1 restrictions since March. But the first day of summer will see that change.

Water restrictions will be lifted from Tuesday and replaced with guidelines — saving the pain of a fine for only ­“extreme cases” of waste.

The new plan was signed off on in State Cabinet on Monday night ahead of the first day of summer.

Under the guidelines, restrictions are lifted and households and businesses are simply encouraged to avoid wasteful water usage.

Ms Pavey said NSW residents had saved 31,000 Olympic-size swimming pools of water during the restriction period, with water use down 7.5 per cent since March.

Leila, 10, and Jack, 5, Mayoh enjoy a water fight in their backyard on Monday. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Combined dam levels as of Monday were 93.5 per cent, with Warragamba sitting at 96.1 per cent — a 46.5 per cent increase in the past year.

“The new Water Wise Guidelines follow commonsense behaviours we have seen over the past 12 months,’’ Ms Pavey said. “While we want everyone to enjoy water this summer, we need to ­remember to use it wisely.”

Ms Pavey was particularly keen to allow children to run under sprinklers — an activity allowed under the plan.

“It’s the right of passage of all Aussie kids to play under a sprinkler. We’ve listened to the children of Sydney,” she said.

Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra have been at Level 1 water restrictions since the beginning of March, under which you could not water lawns outside the hours of 10am and 4pm and could only use a hose fitted with a trigger nozzle.

You also could not hose down hard surfaces like concrete, paths and driveways and standard sprinklers and watering systems were not ­allowed.

Elena and Leila in Castle Cove. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Ms Pavey’s department was hesitant to end the restrictions because of concerns about water quality and the pressure on the filtration plant at Warragamba.

But she has privately been criticised by colleagues for being too slow to act on the situation, particularly as Warragamba Dam continued to fill in recent months.

The Mayoh siblings Leila, 10, Elena, 8, and Jack, 5, enjoyed cooling off under the hose and sprinkler in Sydney’s north Monday afternoon. Leila said she was happy to now be able to make a splash with her brother and sister as the weather continues to warm up.

“I’m looking forward to summer, we can actually swim in the pool together,” she said.

“It makes me really happy we can play in the water again, in the pool or with the sprinkler.’’

Mum Lisa said the easing of restrictions had come at a “perfect time” for the family.

“My kids have never been able to play under the sprinkler like my generation used to as kids, we’ve had to be so conscious with water use for such a long time due to the ­restrictions.”