State of the Storages
Storages have had their best autumn since 1996, thanks largely to a boost from the major water projects and reduced water use.
What does this graph show?
Storages have started winter at a four-year high of 32.7% full, due to the Sugarloaf Pipeline, reconnection of Tarago Reservoir and reduced water use. Without this boost, storages would be entering winter at a much lower level, 28.7%.
Above-average rainfall and improved streamflow also helped reduce the normal storage decline in autumn, with storages falling from 34.9% to 32.7% - a drop of 2.2% or 39 billion litres. This was less than half of the average autumn decline since the drought began in 1997, which is 5.3% (94 billion litres).
The city’s dams are now holding 126 billion litres more water than at the same time last year.
Together the Sugarloaf Pipeline and Tarago Reservoir have added 51 billion litres to the city’s dams so far, while under Target 155 Melburnians have used have used about 21 billion litres less over the past 12 months.
Storages have started winter in a better position than the same time last year,.but they’re under a third full and the Bureau of Meteorology has predicted a warmer and drier winter – so we need to stick to Stage 3 restrictions.
- Melbourne Water has just launched a free iPhone app.
- Ever wondered how our dams work? Check our interactive system map.
Here’s a snapshot of how storages are performing:
Key storage facts
- Storages dropped by 0.5% of their total capacity during autumn, from 34.9% to 32.7%. This is the smallest autumn drop since 1996 and compares with a fall of 4.6% in autumn 2009.
- The major catchments received 239.1 mm or 9.2% above the long-term average rainfall.
- A total of 46.9 billion litres flowed into Melbourne’s four major dams on the back of this rain, which was below the average by 3.9%.
- The flow-on effect of the good autumn rain is that the catchments are now fairly wet, which means winter rain will translate more easily into increases to storage levels.
- Melbourne’s total water use (households and business) dropped by 1.0% compared with Autumn 2010 – that’s a saving of 9.8 million litres a day. This was a good result considering that water restrictions were eased from Stage 3a to 3 on 1 April.
More information
Factsheet: Storages during Autumn 2010 (PDF, 61kb)
Videos: Answers to frequently asked questions on storages
Decade in dam levels