18 December 2009
Tamworth Regional Council has renewed appeals today for water users at Barraba and Hills Plain to cut their water to essential use only as their supplies drop below critical levels.
The mayor James Treloar has called on residents in both communities to turn off their taps and use the minimum amounts of water in their homes.
Councillor Treloar appealed to users to cut all outdoor watering to sustain supplies for essential use.
The plea came in the wake of high overnight water consumption figures which are outstripping supply and some reports of abuse of water restrictions, like using sprinklers overnight.
The council today organized a flyer drop across the two communities in a last ditch effort to get a collaborative conservation move.
Tamworth Regional Council says more people have to do a bit more – to turn the water situation away from a disaster.
“Basically we’re staring down the barrel of two communities running dry,” water enterprises director Bruce Logan said.
“They are both using more water than we can put into their supply systems so when you reach the bottom of the barrel that’s the end. I don’t know that everyone realizes just what a critical point we’ve reached – and how they have to cut their water use immediately.
“The situation is getting worse – and the end result is not just going dry, there’s also other dangers posed, like a lack of fire fighting supply and sanitary and health risk issues.
At Barraba, consumption hit 500 kilolitres yesterday – but the bores which are supplying all of the Barraba water supply are pumping at 400 kilolitres a day.
Householders have been warned that penalties will apply for people abusing their water and TRC says it will enforce fines for those not doing the right thing.
At Hills Plain, about 300 water users have been asked to cut back outdoor use to the bare minimum.
Overnight, demand saw the reservoir lose another 2% of capacity – it’s going backwards because the pump station can’t keep up that capacity.
“We need to stop going backwards and build up a reserve so that we can get back to a sustainable level in Hills Plain,” Mr Logan said.
“ Current daily consumption in the Hills Plain area is about 5,000 litres per user compared with 3,000 litres per user in the rest of the Tamworth water area.
The emergency Level 1 water restrictions in Hills Plain were prompted when a main built by a developer burst two weeks ago and the reservoir drained about 80% of capacity overnight. Since then, the pumps have been working around the clock to restore supplies. TRC says it needs the reservoir to get back to about 50% to be safe.
Residents have been warned that if demand doesn’t drop markedly over the weekend, then a ban on all hoses and bucket-use only will be introduced in Hills Plain and all outdoor water use will be outlawed at Barraba, except for recycled water.