Metro weekly update 16 November 2018

Note: 1 billion litres = approx. 400 Olympic swimming pools.  Please note these figures are rounded (except for rainfall) to the nearest whole number.

Water use

Average daily water use over the last week was 889 million litres, which was above the forecast of 828 million litres. 

Since 1 July 2018, we have used 91 billion litres of water - this is about 6 billion litres above what we had forecast for this period.  While we have been quite ambitious in our forecast this year, our water use is still about 1 billion litres greater than the same period last year.

Dam level (total for 15 dams)

The dam storage level has remained steady over the last week at 58 per cent* of full capacity.

*Please note some dams are filled from different sources dam levels include the transfer of groundwater and desalinated seawater from treatment plants as well as streamflow (that comes from rainfall).  The percentage of full capacity number can also go up or down depending on how much water has been supplied to customers this week from dams.

Streamflow (total for 15 dams)

From 1 May 2018 to 1 November 2018 the dams have received 142 billion litres of streamflow.  The post-1975 average for the May to October period is 165 billion litres.

Sprinkler roster compliance

The two-day-a-week sprinkler roster now applies across Perth, so make sure your sprinklers are programmed for your rostered water days and only to come on once, either before 9am or after 6pm.

Our team of inspectors issued 80 warnings and 116 fines this week.  Since 1 January 2018, we have taken a total of 7426 actions (warnings + fines) compared with 8460 actions for the same period in 2017.

Annual rainfall

Perth has received 738.4 mm of rainfall since January this year.  The cumulative average rainfall for January to December is 732.8 mm.

General water news

The ABC’s article about the Bureau of Meteorology’s summer forecast is a great summary of what’s to come weather wise.   Written by Irena Ceranic the ABC’s weather and climate reporter it states last summer Perth had its longest run of days below 35C in two decades – but this year the heat will come back.

You may not know that our water use goes up and down depending on the temperature.  If you plotted a line on a graph of daily water use and temperature the two would almost mirror each other.

Today, temperatures are forecast to reach 37C but tomorrow they are due to return to a more Spring-like 28C.  This means is we don’t need to rush out and hand water our gardens today – they’ll survive the odd hot Spring day.  But if you do get home from work tonight and your garden doesn’t look happy perhaps it’s time to give it a waterwise makeover this weekend.