2 October 2008
DRY END TO A DRY MONTH
Melbourne’s water storages crept up by less than 0.1% of capacity in the past week, ending one of the driest ever Septembers for the catchments and reinforcing the need to save more water as the weather becomes warmer.
Storages are now at 34.5% (611,557 million litres) full after rising by just 0.06% (or 1149 million litres) since last Thursday. This compares with 39.8% (706,401 million litres) last year.
Continuing the parched start to spring, average rainfall across the catchments since last Thursday was 10.5mm, well below the long-term average of 26.4mm. Consequently, streamflow into the four harvesting reservoirs (6.6 billion litres) was 64% below the average for the period (18.2 billion litres).
Average daily water use in the past week was 1,026 million litres, an increase of about 30 million litres on the previous week but below the 1990s spring average of 1,246 million litres a day.
Stage 3a restrictions are in place until at least 30 November 2008. Further details on water restrictions are available by visiting the Our Water Our Future website or by contacting the government water retailers.
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Media Contact: Andrew McGinnes +613 9235 7277 +61 (0)403 930 846