It may have been raining lately, but the Tweed must be ready to take appropriate measures when a drought inevitably hits. To make sure we’re prepared, Council has revised the water restrictions it would implement in the event of a drought and is seeking feedback from the community until January 31.
The restrictions have been revised in line with Council’s Water Supply Drought Management Strategy and expanded to include greater detail and more information for residents.
A draft of the revised restrictions has been on public exhibition since December 5 and community members are invited to take the opportunity to assess the proposed changes and provide feedback.
“They identify a greater number of measures to curb water use during a drought, to share the burden and help achieve targets for reduced water consumption,” Council’s Demand Management Program Leader Elizabeth Seidl said.
The revised restrictions have been expanded to include more activities and are described in greater detail to provide more information to the public.
The water restrictions were redrafted with particular emphasis on:
nConsistency with water restrictions in place from time to time in regions close to Tweed. In particular, the process reviewed water restrictions adopted by the Queensland Water Commission – affecting areas in SouthEast Queensland – and Rous Water to the south.
nSimilar restrictions designed to achieve the same reduction in demand, comparing each of these strategies with one another.
nCompliance with the NSW Water Directorate guidelines.
nEnabling business and commercial premises and water users to continue operating as normally as possible,for as long as possible, without undue hardship.
nExpansion to include and provide coverage of more activities likely to be using water.
nTaking advantage of more opportunities to reduce demand and share the burden of reducing demand.
nProviding more thorough descriptions of activities to make restrictions easier to understand and comply with.
Copies of the draft water restrictions and an accompanying fact sheet are available to view at Council’s customer offices in Murwillumbah and Tweed Heads, as well as the libraries in Kingscliff, Tweed Heads and Murwillumbah.They can also be viewed on Council’s website www.tweed.nsw.gov.au. For more information, contact Elizabeth Seidl on (02) 6670 2400.
