Dam storages have fallen, weather is hot and dry: Water restrictions hit the Hunter next year
A long, hot and dry summer and the Hunter’s dam’s falling to their lowest levels in almost 40 years will see level 2 water restrictions enforced in the Lower Hunter early next year.
Newcastle
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The Hunter is in for a long, hot and dry summer as extreme drought continues to grip most of NSW.
The region’s dam’s have also fallen to their lowest levels in almost 40 years, Hunter water storage levels dropping to 57.9 per cent capacity.
It’s forced level 2 water restrictions in the Lower Hunter, to come into place early next year, on January 20.
“The hot and dry conditions are going to continue,” Hunter Water’s Executive Drought Lead Darren Cleary said.
“We’re announcing them today to give people time to plan and adjust, particularly given the holiday period is coming up.
“The trigger for level two restrictions is 50 per cent of water storage so there is work that needs to be done not just for residential customers but particularly our business customers who do need some time to adjust.
“We hope rain occurs but we need to be ready and prepared in the event it doesn’t rain.”
Minister for Water, Property and Housing Melinda Pavey said local dams are declining rapidly.
“The Lower Hunter’s dams are declining at a rapid rate of about one per cent each week due to a lack of decent rainfall and high evaporation,” she said.
Under level two water restrictions, outdoor watering is limited to 15 minutes every second day, vehicles and buildings can only be washed with a bucket and showers are limited to four minutes.
Mr Cleary acknowledged the community response so far has been fantastic.
“Since the start of Level one water restrictions, our community has used 17 per cent less water than what we expected, given the weather conditions – the average water use of approximately 62,000 households over the same period,” he said.
“We’ve been working closely with our large business customers who use more than 10 million litres of water a year to develop Water Efficiency Management Plans.
“We have water officers that are out there at the moment in the community helping to understand the restrictions and educating them about them.
“We’ve been in talks with a whole range of businesses and industry groups and we’re preparing a lot of support material to assist them and what they can do, in particular working with them to know what is an efficient water use.
“Thank you to everyone in our community for playing their part to save water, because your efforts are helping make a difference.”
Level two water restrictions will also be enforced for Sydney, Blue Mountains and Illawarra as of tomorrow (Tuesday).
For more information on water restrictions visit, www.hunterwater.com.au/restrictions