Metro region water use update 21 December 2017

Note: 1 billion litres = 1 Subiaco Oval filled to the goalposts

Water supply crisis or no water supply crisis – that is the question!

In Perth we don’t have a looming water supply crisis… so you might think why do we still ask you to save water? 

At the moment about half the water we need each year comes from seawater desalination and recycling plants.  The other half still comes from deep bores and dams that depend on rainfall.

All the investment in desalination and recycling over the last decade has not come cheap.  The longer we can live within our current means to supply water – the longer we put off spending big dollars on another source.  So this is one of the reasons why we ask you not waste water – essentially it helps keep your bills down.

Remember if you’re having friends and family around to your place this Christmas, why not show them how saving water is done… keep pool covers on; turn the dishwater on only when it’s full and don’t get carried away with the hose and overwater the garden.  Stay waterwise this Christmas!

Water use

Our average daily water use last week was 864 million litres, which was below the forecast of 1.01 billion litres thanks to the cooler temperatures.  Our financial year to date water use is 122.44 billion litres, which is below the 123.36 billion litres we forecast.

Dam levels

Over the last seven days, Perth’s dam storage levels remained unchanged at 43.8%.  Perth’s dams store groundwater and desalinated seawater that is transferred from our treatment plants as well as streamflow (created by rainfall).

Sprinkler roster compliance

The two-day-per week sprinkler roster now applies, and this week our inspectors issued 127 warnings and 104 fines.  This is compared to 136 warnings and 151 fines the previous week.   Year-to-date we have taken a total of 9,867 actions (warnings + fines) compared to 10,737 actions for the same period in 2016.

Rainfall

The average monthly rainfall for December is 13.1mm.  So far this month, Perth has received 40.6mm of rainfall.  Since 1 January 2017, Perth has received 854mm of rainfall, which is more than the average of 844.5mm (January to December period).