The total active storage percentage of rural water supplies on 13 January 2020 was 24.0%. This was a decrease of 0.5% since last week.
Bowra Dam is the envy of many shires – 5500 mega litres of fresh water, which amounts to two years supply for the area. Making the case for the Bowra Dam was not an easy one 10 years ago when the shire was drowning in flood waters. “At the time, the urgency was not there, but if we hadn’t built it – we’d be in the same scenario as so many other towns right now.” said Nambucca Shire mayor, Rhonda Hoban
Liverpool Plains’ bores are a saving grace for towns in the shire. Communities in Quirindi and Willow Tree use bore water that hasn’t yet shown signs of duress. Just an hour down the road, Tamworth residents face the prospect of a dwindling Chaffey Dam, at just 13.7 per cent.
Uralla Shire Council say they will reach Water Day Zero in July 2020 unless heavy rain falls
With the Bureau of Meteorology predicting a drier-than-average summer ahead, SEQ Water in Queensland is urging residents to make saving water one of their resolutions for the New Year. Water resources in the southeast are continuing to dwindle, with Atkinson Dam, Lake Dyer, and Clarendon Dam having long since dropped below their minimum reading levels. Wivenhoe Dam has also been suffering, with its water level now lower than 45%.
Inflows into Sydney’s dams have plunged to levels far below the previous worst drought but water demand barely budged last year, slashing storage levels by almost a third.
Stanthorpe has become the centre of the largest water carting project by a local government, with the apple and wine-growing town’s supply officially running out on Monday.
Two years of unrelenting drought has seen Chichester Dam drop to 38.1 per cent. Constructed between 1915 and 1926, the 18,356 megalitre dam contributes 35 per cent of the Lower Hunter’s potable water supply
Rous County Council announced that most towns in the area will move up to Level 2 water restrictions next week due to poor rainfall coupled with high water demand. This applies to the council areas of Ballina, Byron Bay, Lismore and Richmond Valley
In the wake of the enormous fires that have razed huge swathes of drought-stricken Australia, scientists fear that when rains eventually fall, they will wash charred debris into rivers, dams, and the ocean, killing wildlife and even tainting the drinking supplies of major cities, such as Sydney.
Arsenic levels in Uralla Shire Council water supply remain elevated, and residents still use too much water
Since the drought started to bite around the Sydney region about 33 months ago, 281 billion litres have flowed into Sydney’s biggest dam at Warragamba. The tally is less than half the previous lowest level for a similar period during 1939-41 at 628 billion litres
Level two water restrictions will be in place across the Yass Valley from midnight on Sunday (19 January), one month after level one restrictions were introduced due to the worsening drought. Yass Dam levels are currently at 72 per cent
Water levels at NSW’s Burrendong Dam, which is three times bigger than Sydney Harbour, have dropped to a critical low of 1.6 per cent, with rain predicted for this weekend unlikely to help.
Residents across the Hunter are being relied upon to ‘act responsibly’ in the lead up to Level 2 water restrictions which begin on January 20.
A popular Perth swimming spot has been closed until further notice after authorities found deadly brain-eating amoeba in the water. The amoeba that can cause a deadly inflammation of the brain called amoebic meningitis.
