Metro weekly water update 10 January 2019

	Target	Actual
January water use to date	12 billion litres	11 billion litres
Dam Storage Levels	N/A	53 per cent
Cumulative streamflow into dams	181 billion litres (Post 1975 May to January average)	146 billion litres
January rainfall to date	16.7 mm (January mean rainfall 1994-2017)   9.7 mm (January average rainfall 1876-2016)	1.8 mm

 

 

 

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 1.005 billion litres, which was slightly below the forecast of 1.045 billion litres.

 

Since 1 July 2018, we have used 144 billion litres of water - this is 5 billion litres above what we had forecast for this period.  It’s worth noting our forecast for winter/spring was more ambitious than previous years and actual total water use is around the same as this time last year.

 

Dam level (total for 15 dams)

 

The dam storage level has decreased over the past week, now sitting at 53 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).  Dam levels are no longer an accurate indicator of the status of Perth's water supply situation.

 

Streamflow (total for 15 dams)

 

From 1 May 2018 to 10 January 2019 the dams have received 146 billion litres of streamflow.  The post-1975 average for the May to January period is 181 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 130 warnings and 62 fines this week.  Since 1 January 2019, we have taken a total of 246 actions (warnings + fines).

 

Annual rainfall

 

Perth has received 1.8 mm of rainfall since 1 January.  Average rainfall for January (1994-2017) is 16.7 mm.

 

General water news

 

Today marks the birth of Charles Yelverton (CY) O’Connor, who was born on 11 January 1843 in Ireland. O’Connor was Western Australia’s Engineer-in-Chief from 1891 and while most people know O’Connor as the mastermind of the then 565km long Goldfields Pipeline, he also designed the Fremantle Inner Harbour.

 

This year marks 116 years since the Goldfields Pipeline was completed – since then it been extended into what is now known as the Goldfields and Agricultural Water Supply Scheme, which now consists of more than 9,624 kilometres of water mains supplying water to more than 100,000 people.

 

For all the weather-buffs, the Bureau of Meteorology released its Annual Climate Statement 2018 yesterday, which showed 2018 was Australia's third-warmest year on record, while rainfall totals were the lowest since 2005.

 

You can read the full summary of Perth’s weather in 2018 on the Bureau’s website.