Why is the Gold Coast using so much water in a drought: blame the Victorian visitors

The drought is impacting on the Gold Coast far worse than first thought. Our water use is skyrocketing. An advertising campaign is planned — southern visitors need some educating.

DROUGHT is having a far worse impact on the Gold Coast than first thought.

Water use is skyrocketing. An advertising campaign is planned and one councillor says southern visitors need educating.

Councillors sought a briefing from officers at a water and waste committee meeting and were left in no doubt that most of green behind the gold will soon turn brown.

The Gold Coast City Council's drought response.

Dam levels have dropped in southeast Queensland to 58.76 per cent. The Gold Coast’s Hinze Dam is at 85.8, but Brisbane’s Wivenhoe Dam – which has the most capacity – is at 46.6 per cent while Somerset is just over 66 per cent.

“It’s not a good look at the moment for our water volumes,” a council officer said.

Consumption across the SEQ Water Grid averages 217 litres per person per day.

On the Gold Coast, we are using 233 litres. It is supposed to be 185.

This much higher than Logan (204) and Brisbane, Ipswich and Scenic Rim (216). Only Redland is higher (236).

The desalination plant at Tugun has been ramped up and is sending about 133 megalitres a day to the Robina reservoir. Blended with Mudgeeraba water, it feeds the south.

Canungra is doing it tough. Their water facility is turned off. The local creek is dry and water needs to be carted there.

Councillors were shown a graph headed Supply Security Projection.

Water supply projections during the drought produced by the Gold Coast City Council.

A dark blue line illustrated the worst case scenario – a ten thousand year model drought. A green line above it showed the millennium drought, but what it looks like with the upgraded grid.

A light blue line showed where the city was tracking, dipping below that green line.

“As you can see there are periods where we are tracking worse than the millennium drought,” the officer said.

The city hit 60 per cent capacity last month but the tracking had suggested the city would not reach it until next June.

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“Based on this number, we will hit 50 per cent where we start to get water restrictions – about 150 litres per person per day requirement – in about November 2020,” the officer said.

The council is quietly rolling out some great initiatives. Smart metering at schools which cost$70,000 saved about $1.3 million in leaks. Other big users will soon get them.

A new rapid 24-hour response team attends complaints by residents who detect leaks. The recycled water network will be expanded.

Beach showers finally turned back on in 2006 after the big drought.

Committee chair Paul Taylor predicts that by mid to late next year restrictions will kick in. Residents will not be able to hose gardens or fill their pools.

The veteran Broadbeach-based councillor is quite open about his beliefs for the high water use.

The villains in the piece are the holidaymakers, he suggests.

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About 693,000 visitors from Sydney and 420,000 from Victoria arrived in the past 12 months.

“In my opinion, we do have a lot of holiday people here and they couldn’t care less. They just leave the taps going. The publicity going out shortly will hopefully get the residents – and the holidaymakers – to cut back, especially Victorians where they haven’t got restrictions,” Cr Taylor said.

But the real test will be our response. Gold Coasters have done it before, back in the early 2000s when restrictions included the beach showers being shut off for 18 months. We are not a city shy about taking short showers with friends.