Tweed Shire Council has announced residents are eight weeks away from level one water restrictions unless significant rain arrives in the meantime.
The water level of Clarrie Hall Dam has fallen below 90 per cent capacity, with restrictions set to kick in if they drop below 75 per cent.
The sale and movement of water outside the shire is now banned and carting is not permitted from the Uki and Tyalgum supplies.
Council’s water and wastewater manager, Anthony Burnham, said the level of Clarrie Hall Dam is dropping close to two per cent a week.
‘To delay the imposition of restrictions, we all need to conserve water where we can. Currently the average use per person per day in the Tweed is 177 litres, against a target of 160 litres per person per day. We know we can do better and there’s no time like now to try,’ he said.
Level 1 restrictions
If implemented, level 1 restrictions would mean you could not water your lawn. You could water your garden every second day (using the odd/even house numbering system) but only for one hour between 4pm and 9am using a hand-held hose or 15 minutes using a micro spray or drip irrigation system. No sprinkler or soaker hoses would be allowed and no one could water their garden on the 31st of the month.
For cars, it’s buckets anytime or hand-held hoses between 4pm and 9am.
To wash the saltwater off the tinny, you would have 10 minutes using a hand-held hose.
NB: This is not an exhaustive list of restrictions.
Permitted uses of water are different for commercial customers and for businesses that rely on water as a key input. These customers should refer directly to Council’s Drought Management Policy to manage their water use if restrictions are applied.
Clarrie Hall dam is 9/10ths full, it is not like the glass was half empty or half full. We have overreach as when the dam is 9/10ths full all we have used is 1/10th of the total capacity. And at 75 percent capacity the amount full is three times the one quarter we have used. Water consumption it seems is for washing, in the shower, in the laundry and in the kitchen sink. Also the toilet. Just don’t go. Just don’t go there.
Council charges the ratepayer for the average use of 177litres per person but they have a target of 160 litres per person. So if each person deduces their water consumption it is reasonable that Council will reduce the price per litre to the consumer. Is that so? By reaching the target of 160 litres per person ratepayers reduce the cost to Council of purifying the water.
With such lack of a wet season I think water restrictions are needed and Council is doing the responsible thing by having us abide by restrictions if no rain comes soon..
Meanwhile the Tweed waterminers send oversize tankers filled with hundreds of thousands of litres of our water to Queensland on a weekly basis.
Don’t worry, suckers, we can just buy 600ml plastic bottles full of what used to be our water. And pay through the nose for it. Just keep voting LibLabNats. Suckers.
And yet the water mining companies have been allowed to rob the water resources of this area. I agree there needs to be water restrictions for us all, it may have the added benefit of making people more aware of mindless consumption and wasting water but why do these companies continue to get away with stealing water?