Three more water areas in Tamworth Regional Council face tighter water restrictions from Saturday (December 19).
Water rules are being changed at Bendemeer, Nundle and Manilla as the big dry continues to bite right across the TRC area and supplies fall and demand rises above conservation trigger levels.
Bendemeer and Nundle will be the latest areas to move from Permanent water conservation to new Level 1 rules while Manilla shifts from its present Level 1 to tighter Level 2 measures.
The Hills Plain area in north Tamworth was shifted onto emergency water rules yesterday and Barraba moved to Level 3 on Monday.
Emergency Level 1 restrictions were announced for the 300 Hills Plain rural residential water users yesterday to avoid the estate reservoir being run dry – and if consumption there doesn’t drop by the weekend they could face the loss of all outdoor hoses.
Bendemeer and Nundle river flows have dropped markedly forcing them onto tighter restrictions.
TRC water enterprises director Bruce Logan said the flow rate for the Bendemeer supply, the MacDonald River, had dropped to about 1.5 megalitres a day which is below the trigger of 2 megalitres. Demand at Bendemeer has been at 0.12 megalitres and above target.
At Nundle, the Peel River has stopped flowing and the water level at the intake well has dropped by 280mm in the past week to a standing level of 5.93 metres, near the trigger for Level 1 restrictions there. The back up bore on Oakenville Creek is being prepared to operate as an emergency if supply drops too much further.
Water consumption rates at Nundle have been at 250 kilolitres day but are expected to rise if the hot dry weather continues much longer. At Manilla, the flow over the Namoi River weir and fishway has stopped. Demand has been at 1.75 megalitres a day but is hoped to drop under Level 2, which bans all sprinklers but allows hand held hoses or water efficient drip irrigation for two hours from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.
In Tamworth, consumption has been around 40megalitres a day or above for the past week or so and hit a high of 48 megalitres last Wednesday. The main supply dam at Chaffey is at 89% but the city is not likely to see changes to water rules until it drops to the trigger of 50% or an emergency arises.
Moonbi-Kootingal, Attunga and Tamworth are all on Permanent water rules, meaning sprinklers or fixed hoses should not be used until after 6:00pm and before 8:00am. Hand held hoses with trigger nozzles are allowed anytime but TRC has appealed for residents to be conservative and recognize the waste of water through evaporation in the middle of the day.
Supply figures are being monitored across TRC and an around the clock watch at Barraba and Hills Plain is in place because of the critical levels in supply in those areas.
The introduction of tougher water rules at Barraba over the weekend had a significant effect on consumption. The demand dropped to 420 kilolitres on Monday from a top of 750 kilolitres on Sunday. TRC has said that it needs the town to be at about 400 kilolitres so the two emergency pumping trial bores can continue to supply demand.
At Hills Plain, demand overnight did not drop at all and TRC has repeated appeals to residents there to go easy on water use to ensure the reservoir can recover to sustainable levels. The emergency was prompted after a main built by a private developer burst and drained about 80% of the reservoir overnight. Since then demand has outstripped pumping capacity and emergency restrictions were imposed to help get it back to a safer level. If consumption doesn’t fall TRC says it might have to consider imposing even harsher rules which could outlaw all use of hoses outside.