2 February 2012
Good rain and runoff fail to halt dam decline
Above-average rain and runoff were not enough to stop water storages from decreasing for the third week in a row.
The four major catchments received between 10 and 31mm of rain, at an average of 25mm. This was 70% above the 30-year average for the period.
The rain resulted in 5 billion litres of streamflow into the major reservoirs.
This was slightly more than 25% above the average for the period (4 billion litres), but not enough to pay back the water used by Melbourne over the week.
As a consequence, dam levels decreased by 0.2% of capacity, which represents a net loss of 5 billion litres.
Water storages are now 65.2% (1,180.9 billion litres) full, compared with 53.6% (971.5 billion litres) at the same time last year – a difference of 209.4 billion litres.
Residential water use remained high due to some warm weather, particularly earlier in the period.
Melburnians used an average of 196 litres of water per person per day over the past week. This is 3 litres per day less than the previous week.
Information on water restrictions and tips on how to save water are available from water.vic.gov.au or by contacting the government water retailers.
Stage 1 restrictions are currently in place.
Media Contact: Nicolas McGay +613 9235 2278 +61 (0)438 981 836