Metro weekly water update 15 March 2019

	Target	Actual
March water use to date	15 billion litres	14 billion litres
Dam storage levels	N/A	48 per cent
Cumulative streamflow into dams	185 billion litres (Post 1975 May to March average)	151 billion litres
March rainfall to date	21 mm (March mean rainfall 1994-2017)   19.5 mm (March average rainfall 1876-2016)	5.6 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 884 million litres, which was below the forecast of 958 million litres.

 

Daily water use for the last five days
Date	Actual water use – litres	Forecast – litres
Friday, 15 March 2019	951,000,000	946,000,000
Thursday, 14 March 2019	931,000,000	946,000,000
Wednesday, 13 March 2019	886,000,000	946,000,000
Tuesday, 12 March 2019	883,000,000	946,000,000
Monday, 11 March 2019	923,000,000	972,000,000

Note: water use above is calculated up to 8am each day for the previous 24 hour period

 

Since 1 July 2018, we have used 200 billion litres of water - this is about 3 billion litres above what we had forecast for this period. 

 

Dam level (total for 15 dams)

 

The dam storage level has changed by one per cent over the past week and is sitting at 48 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 health of Perth's overall water supply situation.

 

Streamflow (total for 15 dams)

 

From 1 May 2018 to 14 March 2019 the dams had received 151 billion litres of streamflow.  The post-1975 average for the May to March period is 185 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 74 warnings and 67 fines this week.  Since 1 January 2019, we have taken a total of 2245 actions (warnings + fines) compared with 2287 actions for the same period in 2018.

 

Annual rainfall

 

Perth has received 13 mm of rainfall since 1 January 2019.  Average rainfall for this period (1994-2017) is 50.7 mm.

 

General water news

 

Did you know that different types of sprinklers have different watering rates? Check the best setting for your sprinkler system by watching our new videos.

 

https://www.watercorporation.com.au/save-water/in-the-garden/sprinklers-and-irrigation