30 October 2009
Little rain but storages gain 12 billion litres
Water storages continued to rise in the past week despite virtually no rain over the major catchments.
Storages increased 0.6% of capacity, representing an overall boost of 11.9 billion litres.
The major catchments received between 0.0 to 1.4 mm of rain for the week, with an average of 0.8 mm. This was well below the long-term average for the period, 21.8 mm.
The 14 billion litres of streamflow was lower than recent weeks but still close to the average (14.3 billion litres).
The strong runoff is a flow-on effect of consistent rain over the past month. Streamflow rates will continue to fall without further rainfall.
Storages are now 37.7% (683.3 billion litres) full, compared with 33.9% (601.8 billion litres) at the same time last year.
Residential weekly water consumption was above the Target of 155 litres a day for the first time since March this year.
Melburnians used an average of 157 litres each a day.
More information on restrictions and tips on how to reach the target are available from Target 155 [website no longer available, visit Office of Water for this information] or by contacting the government water retailers.
Stage 3a restrictions and Target 155 are currently in place.
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Media Contact: Andrew McGinnes +613 9235 7277 +61 (0)403 930 846