ORANGE City Council has issued a warning to residents to expect level three water restrictions to be instituted within weeks.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In accordance with council policy, once the combined water storage levels of Suma Park and Spring Creek dams fall below 50 per cent, the city will move to level three restrictions.
The current storage level is 51.8 per cent, and modelling suggested it’s likely to fall below half full in the first week of December.
Soaker hoses, micro sprays and drip feeders are great and can be purchased at any hardware store or nursery and are fairly easily put together.
- Orange mayor Reg Kidd
Under level three restrictions hand-held hoses can not be used to water lawns and gardens, with the use of buckets, watering cans, drip feeders, soaker hoses and microsprays is allowed between between 6am-9am and 6pm-9pm every second day, as per an ‘odds and evens’ house number system.
There are exceptions for freshly laid turf, and residents can apply to be exempt from restrictions.
Mayor Reg Kidd said “Orange residents have always been very good at being water wise”.
“We’re encouraging residents to take what they’re already doing to reduce their water consumption and going that extra step,” he said.
“Soaker hoses, micro sprays and drip feeders are great and can be purchased at any hardware store or nursery and are fairly easily put together.”
The weather station at the Orange Agricultural Institute recorded the lowest rainfall on record for the 15 months starting July last year.
Under such conditions, Orange had “done well to maintain our water supply above 50 per cent capacity for this long”, according to Cr Kidd.
“The Macquarie Pipeline and the award-winning storm-water harvesting scheme have been invaluable, and both will continue to take full advantage of rain events when they do happen,” he said.
In the last 12 months about 870 mega litres of water was pumped into Suma Park Dam using the Macquarie Pipeline and the city’s stormwater harvesting scheme.
Based on the average daily consumption, that amounted to about two and a half months of water supply.
“Having these two extra sources of water has made a huge difference,” Cr Kidd said.
Under the impending restrictions residents can only use buckets to wash their cars.
DO YOU WANT MORE ORANGE NEWS?
- Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below …