Weekly water update 24 August 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 631 million litres, which was above the forecast of 540 million litres.  Since 1 July 2018 we have used 31 billion litres of water - this is two billion litres above what we had forecast.

Dam levels

The dam storage level has increased by 7 billion litres over the last week and they are now at 57% of full capacity.   Please note some dams are filled from three different sources and this change may include the transfer of groundwater and desalinated seawater from treatment plants as well as streamflow (that comes from rainfall).  The change also reflects water that has been supplied to customers from dams this week.

Streamflow (total for the metro’s 15 dams)

From 1 May 2018 to 23 August 2018 the dams have received 94 billion litres of streamflow.  For this same time period last year the dams had received 61 billion of streamflow.  The post 1975 average for the May to August period is 107 billion litres.

Sprinkler roster compliance

The Winter Sprinkler Switch-off still applies, and our team of inspectors issued 123 warnings and 30 fines this week.  Since 1 January 2018, we have taken a total of 5974 actions (warnings + fines) compared with 7031 actions for the same period in 2017.

Annual rainfall

Perth has received 625 mm of rainfall since January this year.  The cumulative average rainfall for January to December is 732.8 mm. 

General water news

Teaser alert!

We have an exciting event coming up next week with the opening by Minister for Water Hon Dave Kelly MLA of the largest water storage tank we have ever built.  The tank will become an important part of Perth’s water supply scheme.

We will bring you all the exciting details in next week’s Water Update.