DESPITE drought conditions continuing to plague the state, Leeton Shire Council will not be implementing any water restrictions for this coming summer.
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A dry and hot summer has been predicted for the region, but with town water allocations remaining at 100 per cent, council believes it will not need to implement any restrictions.
However, council’s manager of water and waste Greg Richards said if dry conditions continued there may be a case for restrictions next summer depending on allocations.
Local government areas in NSW such as Eurobodalla, Goulburn Mulwaree, Orange, Shoalhaven and Tamworth all currently have some form of water restrictions in place.
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Mr Richards said there was a reason Leeton shire hadn’t moved to any water-saving methods.
“It is calculated on the correlation between water usage and town allocations, which are currently at 100 per cent,” he said.
“On current town water usage patterns, town allocations would need to drop to around 60 per cent to trigger any potential water restrictions.”
While the shire has experienced rainfall in the last two months, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is predicting very little wet weather during summer.
In its monthly weather review for NSW last month, the BoM said NSW as a whole experienced its third-warmest October on record, with an average temperature that was 2.44 degrees above average.
If water restrictions were to be put in place, whether it now or next summer, Mr Richards said most residents were usually happy to comply.
“Generally, residents are happy to oblige,” he said. “We do get the odd resident that flouts the restrictions from time-to-time.
“These residents are sent a written warning and, if restrictions continue to be ignored, they will receive an infringement notice and a fine.”
Despite there being no restrictions in place, residents wanting to save water have been encouraged to do so should they wish to.
- Do you think Leeton shire should implement some form of water restrictions? Head to our Facebook page and let us know.
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