HEAVY rain earlier this week has done little to ease the region’s water situation or change the need for Port Macquarie-Hastings Council to consider Level 3 water restrictions.
Some 135mm of rain fell between Sunday and Tuesday morning in Port Macquarie, but the coastal rainfall was not matched by rainfall inland in the Hastings River catchment.
Mayor Peter Besseling confirmed that rainfall in the catchment area was not enough to make any long-term difference to river flows.
“While further rainfall is forecast before the end of the week, only time will tell if it is enough for the council to start pumping again from the Hastings River into the Port Macquarie and Cowarra dams,” he said.
The council advised last week that it would need to move towards Level 3 restrictions within 30 days – or even sooner if it is forced to use stored water to supply Wauchope – and urged local residents to conserve as much water as possible.
The council stopped pumping water from the Hastings River into its two storage dams in August and may also be forced to stop pumping water from the river to supply Wauchope. If this is the case, council will need to back feed from its dam storages to supply Wauchope, placing added strain on its stored water capacity. Combined storage in the two dams is already falling quickly towards the 10,000ML trigger level for Level 3 restrictions.
“While the weekend rain was extremely welcome – particularly for the region’s gardeners – the emphasis needs to remain on water conservation,” Cr Besseling said.
“There have been some promising falls in the Mt Seaview area over the past three days (17mm, 21mm and 35mm) but they will need to continue.”
As Level 2 restrictions are not used in the LGA, the council will move directly from Level 1 (mandatory) restrictions to Level 3 restrictions. Level 3 restrictions will apply to the residential use of potable (drinking) water and will impact on the watering of gardens and lawns, car and boat washing, the flushing of outboard motors and the cleaning of windows, walls, roofs, driveways, paths and paved areas.
