29 January 2010
Dry week sees storages shed 0.4%
Water storages have dropped by 0.4% of capacity after a week of virtually no rain over the major catchments and half the normal runoff.
The decrease represents an overall decline of 6.8 billion litres.
The major catchments received between 0.0 to 0.2 mm of rain during the week, with an average of 0.1 mm.
This was well below the long-term average for the period, 17 mm.
The 2.1 billion litres of streamflow into the major reservoirs was mostly the flow-on effects of rain in previous weeks.
This was 50% below the average of 4.2 billion litres.
Without further rain the rate of streamflow will continue to decline.
Storages are now 36.3% (657.5 billion litres) full, compared with 33.4% (592.7 billion litres) at the same time last year – a difference of more than 60 billion litres.
Residential water consumption crept back above the Target of 155 litres per person per day.
Melburnians used a daily average of 157 litres per person.
More information on restrictions and tips on how to reach the target are available from Target 155 or by contacting the government water retailers.
Stage 3a restrictions and Target 155 are currently in place.
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Media Contact: Andrew McGinnes +613 9235 7277 +61 (0)403 930 846