Metro weekly water update 31 May 2019

	Target	Actual
May water use to date	22 billion litres	23 billion litres
Dam storage levels	N/A	44 per cent
Weekly streamflow into dams	N/A	0 billion litres
May rainfall to date	88.7 mm (May average rainfall 1994-2017)   116.9 mm (May average rainfall 1876-2016)	17.8 mm
Note: 1 billion litres = approx. 400 Olympic swimming pools. Please note the figures in this table are rounded (except for rainfall) to the nearest whole number.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water use

 

Average water use over the last week was 734,000,000 litres (734 million litres) per day, which was above the forecast of 663,000,000 litres (663 million litres).

 

Daily water use for the last five days
Date	Actual water use – litres	Forecast – litres
31/05/2019	741,000,000	653,000,000
30/05/2019	731,000,000	653,000,000
29/05/2019	735,000,000	653,000,000
28/05/2019	722,000,000	653,000,000
27/05/2019	785,000,000	675,000,000
Note: water use is calculated up to 8am each day for the previous 24 hour period

 

Since 1 July 2018, we have used 267 billion litres of water - this is about 3 billion litres above what we had forecast. 

 

Dam level (total for 15 dams)

 

The dam storage level has remained stable this week and is sitting at 44 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).  As we use many different sources of water, dams are no longer an accurate indicator of the health of Perth's overall water supply situation.

 

Streamflow (total for 15 dams)

 

From 1 May 2019 the dams have received 1.5 billion litres of streamflow.  The post-1975 average for the May to April period is 187.2 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 56 warnings and 50 fines this week.  Since 1 January 2019, we have taken a total of 3561 actions (warnings + fines) compared with 3731 actions for the same period in 2018.

 

Annual rainfall

 

Perth has received 75.60 mm of rainfall since 1 January 2019.  The cumulative average (1994-2017) rainfall for the January to May period is 176.6 mm.

 

General water news

 

Don’t forget the Winter Sprinkler Switch off starts tomorrow – 1 June.

 

Make sure your garden reticulation is switched off otherwise you will risk a $100 fine.

 

For all the details on the Switch Off see our website https://www.watercorporation.com.au/wintersprinklerswitchoff

 

15,000 people have already visited the site this year to check if the Switch Off applies to them.