Weekly water update for 14 September 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 588 million litres, which was above the forecast of 558 million litres.  Since 1 July 2018 we have used 45 billion litres of water - this is about 4 billion litres above what we had forecast.

Dam level (total for 15 dams)

The dam storage level has increased by 1 billion litre over the last week and they are at sitting at 59%* of full capacity.

*Please note some dams are filled from different sources and this increase may include the transfer of groundwater and desalinated seawater from treatment plants as well as streamflow (that comes from rainfall).  The percentage of full capacity number can also go up or down depending on how much water has been supplied to customers this week from dams.

Streamflow (total for 15 dams)

From 1 May 2018 to 13 September 2018 the dams have received 111 billion litres of streamflow.  For this same time period last year the dams had received 83 billion of streamflow.  The post 1975 average for the May to September period is 145 billion litres.

Sprinkler roster compliance

The summer sprinkler roster now applies but there’s no need to rush out and turn your sprinklers on as gardens are still getting plenty of water from rainfall. Our team of inspectors issued 38 warnings and 6 fines this week.  Since 1 January 2018, we have taken a total of 6242 actions (warnings + fines) compared with 7338 actions for the same period in 2017.

Annual rainfall

Perth has received 692 mm of rainfall since January this year.  The cumulative average rainfall for January to December is 732.8 mm. 

General water news

Who doesn’t love that clean feeling when you get out of the shower or bath?  But did you know inside an average house, showers and baths use the most water (25%) followed by toilets (9%) and washing machines (7%).

On average, we each use 27,000 litres of water a year getting clean. 

Due to climate change the availability of natural water sources such as dams and groundwater is dwindling.  This has seen us invest in new climate independent water sources such desalination and groundwater replenishment to secure our water future.

But the simplest and cheapest way to secure our water future – is guess what – to use less water!  As Perth is still the highest water using city in Australia there’s certainly room for improvement.

With about 2 million people living in the greater Perth area altogether we use about 54 billion litres of tap water a year getting showered or bathed – that’s the equivalent of 24,000 Olympic swimming pools.

Imagine how much water we could all save if we didn’t get washed…umm maybe that’s going too far!  But seriously, we reckon 4 minutes in the shower should be enough to keep you fresh all day.