Metro region weekly water update - data as at 15 February 2018

Note: 1 billion litres = approx. 400 Olympic swimming pools

Water use

Our average daily water use last week was 983 million litres, which was below the forecast of 1.06 billion litres.  Our financial year to date water use is 177 billion litres, which is below the 183 billion litres we forecast.

Dam levels

Over the last seven days, Perth’s dam storage levels increased 0.5% to 41.4%.  Perth’s dams store water from three different sources, which are… groundwater and desalinated seawater transferred from treatment plants as well as streamflow (produced by rainfall).

Sprinkler roster compliance

The two-day-per week sprinkler roster now applies, and last week our inspectors issued 120 warnings and 142 fines.  This calendar year we have taken a total of 1354 actions (warnings + fines) compared with 1613 actions for the same period in 2017.

Rainfall

So far this month Perth has not received any rainfall – the average is 12.5mm.  In 2017 Perth received 854mm of rainfall, which was slightly above the average of 844.5mm.

General water news

The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a storm system to hit the north of our State overnight and into this weekend, with the potential for it to develop into a Cyclone.

When Cyclone Joyce hit the same region last month it brought welcome rain to Perth – with over 3 billion litres of water reaching our dams.  Perth residents responded well and water use dropped considerably – meaning garden sprinklers were switched off.

We will keep a close eye on the system – not only from an operational perspective in the north west but also to see if it brings any further unseasonal rainfall for Perth.