If you've got it, why not waste it?
THREE thousand bottles of Mount Franklin, one-hundred and sixty seven flushes of a toilet, thirty bathtubs of water or one full rainwater tank – that is how much water each resident in Longreach is currently consuming per day, and the council has had enough.
Water restrictions were introduced last month in an effort to curb skyrocketing consumption levels, to absolutely no avail.
"It seems as soon as we introduce the water restrictions, people have this perception that, because it is their watering day, they are obliged to turn the sprinkler on - regardless of whether the lawn actually needs it," Longreach Shire Mayor Pat Tanks said.
"And as a result our water consumption goes through the roof."
At the November council meeting, council engineering services director Gerry Logan revealed that each resident in Longreach was consuming 1,502.5 litres of water per day, over 500 litres more than what is required to meet target levels.
"You would expect the water consumption to increase coming into summer firstly to keep the yards alive and secondly to keep the residents cool," Mr Logan said.
"But if we don’t receive any flow in the river, we predict that we will run out of water by August next year.
"And we know that the river has dried up previously."
During the 1940s the countryside was in the grip of an all too familiar drought and, unthinkably, the venerable Thomson also suffered from its moisture-sapping effects.
"An area past the old bridge – they call it Picnic Point – well you could walk right the way across the river bed," long-time Longreach resident Joe Stevenson reflected.
"At that time the town wasn’t connected to the river water.
"We all relied on tank water and bathed in hot bore water.
"No one had a garden because we didn’t have the water to spare – the goats would have eaten it anyway.
"Gradually over the years, and with the introduction of the river water connections, the town has sprouted trees and lawns."
The council is hoping to appeal to residents to help in reducing the town’s water consumption to four mega litres per day, rather than the staggering 7.8 mega litres that was recorded on October 8.
"The main thing we ask of people is to turn their sprinklers off during the middle of the day and only sprinkle in the hours that the water restrictions allow, and only if your garden needs it," Mr Logan said.
"We get our water from a waterhole – it’s a finite resource and if we take too much it will run dry.
"We are simply encouraging people to be more civic-minded."
Cr Tanks added that the time for warnings about out-of-hours sprinkling was gone.
"Ratepayers need to be aware that council inspectors from this day on will be monitoring closely their watering activities.
"Warnings and fines will be issued irrespective of who you are.
"I want to make it quite plain, if people don’t abide by the rules and if we can’t get the water consumption down we will move to the next level of water restrictions."
Current water restrictions dictate:
The allowable times for use of sprinklers for residential premises are between 6am and 9am and between 4pm and 8pm on the designated days.
Odd numbered houses are permitted to water on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, while properties with even numbers or no numbers can sprinkle on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.
Hand-held hoses can be used at any time.
Water restrictions were introduced last month in an effort to curb skyrocketing consumption levels, to absolutely no avail.
"It seems as soon as we introduce the water restrictions, people have this perception that, because it is their watering day, they are obliged to turn the sprinkler on - regardless of whether the lawn actually needs it," Longreach Shire Mayor Pat Tanks said.
"And as a result our water consumption goes through the roof."
At the November council meeting, council engineering services director Gerry Logan revealed that each resident in Longreach was consuming 1,502.5 litres of water per day, over 500 litres more than what is required to meet target levels.
"You would expect the water consumption to increase coming into summer firstly to keep the yards alive and secondly to keep the residents cool," Mr Logan said.
"But if we don’t receive any flow in the river, we predict that we will run out of water by August next year.
"And we know that the river has dried up previously."
During the 1940s the countryside was in the grip of an all too familiar drought and, unthinkably, the venerable Thomson also suffered from its moisture-sapping effects.
"An area past the old bridge – they call it Picnic Point – well you could walk right the way across the river bed," long-time Longreach resident Joe Stevenson reflected.
"At that time the town wasn’t connected to the river water.
"We all relied on tank water and bathed in hot bore water.
"No one had a garden because we didn’t have the water to spare – the goats would have eaten it anyway.
"Gradually over the years, and with the introduction of the river water connections, the town has sprouted trees and lawns."
The council is hoping to appeal to residents to help in reducing the town’s water consumption to four mega litres per day, rather than the staggering 7.8 mega litres that was recorded on October 8.
"The main thing we ask of people is to turn their sprinklers off during the middle of the day and only sprinkle in the hours that the water restrictions allow, and only if your garden needs it," Mr Logan said.
"We get our water from a waterhole – it’s a finite resource and if we take too much it will run dry.
"We are simply encouraging people to be more civic-minded."
Cr Tanks added that the time for warnings about out-of-hours sprinkling was gone.
"Ratepayers need to be aware that council inspectors from this day on will be monitoring closely their watering activities.
"Warnings and fines will be issued irrespective of who you are.
"I want to make it quite plain, if people don’t abide by the rules and if we can’t get the water consumption down we will move to the next level of water restrictions."
Current water restrictions dictate:
The allowable times for use of sprinklers for residential premises are between 6am and 9am and between 4pm and 8pm on the designated days.
Odd numbered houses are permitted to water on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, while properties with even numbers or no numbers can sprinkle on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.
Hand-held hoses can be used at any time.
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