THOUGH water restrictions eased in the Kempsey Shire months ago, the need for the community to conserve our most precious resource remains.
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To that end, Kempsey Shire Council has decided to provide a weekly update on the key figures that best demonstrate our water situation.
Rather than wait for our water levels to reach a point of alarm, by sharing the weekly changes in the key water metrics, the community will have the opportunity to see the factors that are crucial to our water conservation.
Each week, council will provide the community with weekly water data through updates posted to council's Facebook page every Tuesday as well as to council's website.
There are four key figures that together are used to measure our water.
AVERAGE RAINFALL
Our water supply relies upon rainfall. As such the fall of rain in key catchment areas is a vital source of information for anticipating future water security.
The average daily measurements for the past two weeks are as follows:
October 20-26: 4.2mm
October 13-19: 1.3mm
RIVER FLOW
A large portion of our shire primarily draws its water through the Sherwood Borefield, which is reliant upon a strong river flow for supply.
The measurements for the past two weeks are as follows:
October 26: 214 megalitres
October 19: 218 megalitres
AVERAGE DAILY WATER USAGE
Another vital metric used to decide when water restrictions are required is the average daily water usage by our community.
The measurements for average daily usage for the last two weeks are as follows:
October 20-26: 6.33 megalitres per day
October 13-19: 7.46 megalitres per day
DAM LEVEL
While many assume that the dam level is the key indicator for water restrictions, our dam is intended to be our last reserve. Ideally our water usage comes directly through the borefields and leaves our dam levels untouched. As such it is already a sign of water shortage if the dam is providing water for daily use.
Dam level on Oct 26: 95.67%
Dam level on Oct 19: 95.46%
If you would like to receive regular updates on Kempsey's water situation, please like the council's Facebook page.
For more information on how to save water head to https://www.kempsey.nsw.gov.au/water/water-restrictions.html
