Metro weekly water update - 24 May 2018

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

Water use

Average daily water use over the last week was 820 million litres, which was above the forecast of 685 million litres.  Since 1 July 2017 we have used 262 billion litres of water, which is 7 billion litres below the 269 billion litres we had forecast.

Dam levels

Over the last seven days, Perth’s dam storage levels have fallen (by 700 million litres) from 135.2 billion litres to 134.5 billion litres of usable storage. Perth’s dams store water from three different sources… 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 our inspectors issued 70 warnings and 55 fines last week.  Since 1 January 2018 we have taken a total of 3635 actions (warnings + fines) compared with 3815 actions for the same period in 2017.

Rainfall

Perth has received 6.2mm of rainfall so far this May - the median rainfall in Perth for May is 86.8mm. Since 1 January 2018, Perth has received 135.8mm of rainfall – cumulative median rainfall from January to May is 133.9mm.

Rain is on the way… so it’s time to turn off your sprinklers

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a Severe Weather Warning today with the first strong cold front of the season expected to affect Perth from around 8pm tonight.   Heavy rainfall will accompany the passage of the front with 24-hour totals to 9am Friday expected to be between 20 and 40 millimetres. 

The rain is a welcome sight after such a dry autumn, and has come at just the right time as Water Corporation issued a media statement this afternoon on the Winter sprinkler switch off

All scheme and domestic bore water users need to switch –off sprinklers from next Friday, 1 June to 31 August 2018.   But with the rain around the next few days why not turn them off early and save even more precious water!

If you would like a free reminder to turn off your sprinklers via text, Facebook, email or calendar visit Winter sprinkler switch off