December 4, 2009
Barraba residents are being asked to cut their water consumption by about 20% or face harsh new restrictions that could cut all use of hoses.
Tamworth Regional Council has asked water users to undertake self imposed voluntary restrictions right away to avoid the introduction of mandatory new water rules.
The appeal comes in the wake of high demand, plummeting dam levels and the cessation of water flow in Barraba Creek.
Demand at Barraba has risen by nearly 30% over the past couple of weeks and given the state of the main supplies at Barraba Creek and Manilla River cannot be accommodated from these sources alone.
Water Enterprises director Bruce Logan says pumping from the emergency bores being trialled at Barraba are now providing the bulk of the raw water for the town. However, he said present demand was in excess of the maximum pumping rates from the 2 bores which means that additional water has to be sourced from either Barraba Creek, Manilla River or Connors Creek Dam. Given the state of these supplies we cannot continue to source water from these locations indefinitely.
The council has warned that if consumers don’t make some drastic cuts to their water use then TRC will be forced to impose restrictions which would effectively ban all use of hoses.
Mr Logan says that scenario could be avoided if residents stop using such high rates of water and cut down on non-essential watering.
He says that under current Level 2 conservation measures, hand held hoses and drip irrigation are allowed between 6pm and 8pm each day but he’s asking residents to cut back on that use to avoid the introduction of new rules which would ban hoses altogether. Sprinklers are banned.
“It’s quite simple. Reduce consumption so we can continue with level 2 restrictions or Council will be forced to introduce harsher restrictions to curb demand. That’s the message we are sending. We hope that by imposing their own voluntary restrictions it will conserve supply. If people do the right thing we can maintain level 2 rules and source almost all our water from the bores.
“Over the last few days consumption has been approaching 700 kilolitres a day. In the week ending November 27 average daily use was 600 kilolitres. The week before then it was 550.
“We need daily consumption to be no more than 500 kilolitres to supply demand from the bores with a small amount of additional water from one or the other of the other supplies.
“Based on the flows in the river and the creek and the level of Connors Dam, it we weren’t pumping from the James St bores, Barraba would be on Level 4 restrictions and approaching Level 5. That’s drastic.
Barraba moved to level two water restrictions a month ago after being on buckets-only watering under Level 3. Under Level 4 rules only recycled water can be used for watering and outside use in public parks or for vehicle washing is banned.