21 November 2008
THOMSON RESERVOIR GEARS UP FOR A DRY SUMMER
Melbourne Water has again confirmed it will be able to keep supplying water from its biggest storage, the Thomson Reservoir, if it falls below previous lows.
Manager of Water Supply Operations, John Woodland, said two large pumps were again on standby to maintain pressure through the transfer tunnel running between the Thomson and Upper Yarra reservoirs.
“The Thomson has done a brilliant job of helping us during 12 years of drought, and it will be part of taking us through until the major water projects are ready,” said Mr Woodland.
“This has been a particularly tough year for all our storages. Rainfall over the catchments and runoff into reservoirs have been two-thirds below average for most of Spring, which is the time when we’d normally expect them to recover.”
Mr Woodland stressed that Melbourne still has a significant amount of water in reserve and enough until the major water projects come online. These include the reconnection of Tarago Reservoir in mid-2009, the Sugarloaf Pipeline in 2010 and the desalination plant by the end of 2011.
Overall storage levels across the nine reservoirs are 33.2% (588 billion litres). The Thomson is at 19.3% and currently holds just under a third of Melbourne’s total water supplies (equivalent to 207 billion litres).
“Every day, we transfer water between the nine reservoirs as part of normal operations,” said Mr Woodland.
“The two pumps on standby at Thomson will make sure we can keep transferring efficiently from this reservoir if it drops below its normal operating level of 15%.
“These same pumps were on-standby in mid-2007 when the Thomson fell to around 17%, but heavy rains during winter and spring saw it rise to a point where they weren’t needed.
“We’re still some 45 billion litres away from actually needing the pumps, but it is prudent to have them at Thomson and ready to be installed,” said Mr Woodland.
Depending on rainfall, inflows to reservoirs and consumption, the pumps at Thomson could be required by second quarter of 2009.
“Thanks to sustained water saving by households and industry, all our storages are in much better shape than they would otherwise be,” added Mr Woodland.
Melbourne is currently on Stage 3a restrictions until at least 30 November 2008. The Victorian Government will make a decision on restrictions levels next week.
Thomson fact sheet (PDF, 126kb)
Media Contact: Andrew McGinnes +613 9235 7277 +61 (0)403 930 846