3 March 2011
Storages steady as runoff matches water use
Water storages have now stayed at 54.1% for the fourth consecutive week, with rainfall generating enough runoff to pay back Melbourne’s water use.
The major harvesting catchments had a modest 15mm of rain, but that was still above the long-term average for the period, 10mm.
With the catchments damp from months of consistent rain, this week’s falls were converted into a high volume of inflow.
The 6 billion litres of inflow into the major dams was more than double the long-term average for the period.
Storages remained unchanged throughout February as the volume of inflow coming into the dams has equalled the amount of water coming out.
Water storages are now 54.1% (980.8 billion litres) full, compared with 34.7% (628.9 billion litres) at the same time last year – a difference of 351.9 billion litres.
Melburnians used an average of 134 litres of water each a day over the past week.This was 2 litres a day less than the previous week.
Information on water restrictions and tips on how to save water are available from Our Water Our Future [website no longer available, visit Office of Water for this information] or by contacting the government water retailers.
Stage 2 restrictions are currently in place.
Media Contact: Nicolas McGay +613 9235 2278 +61 (0)438 981 836