Geelong’s water storages entered March at a six-year low, while storages in Colac and Apollo Bay are as dry as they’ve been at this time of year since 2016.
Amid ongoing dry conditions, which has driven consumption up more than 10 per cent above average, Barwon Water is encouraging customers to use water wisely.
“It has been an extremely dry period, with low inflows to our storages and high demand,” managing director Shaun Cumming said.
“While our ongoing investments in alternative water sources and water efficiency initiatives are increasing the resilience of our system, we’d like customers to consider how they could use water wisely. There are simple measures people can take that each save a little, but if we all do them
together can save us a significant amount.”
For some of Barwon Water’s key catchments, 10 of the last 12 months have seen below average rainfall. This has led to Geelong’s storages, which are contained in six reservoirs along the upper Barwon and Moorabool rivers, falling to below half full.
They entered March at 47 per cent, which is about 28 percentage points lower than at the same time last year.
The percentage drop is similar in Colac, which finished summer under 60 per cent for the first time in almost a decade.
The nine-year low is replicated in Apollo Bay, which has just experienced its third driest summer period in the past 50 years. Storages have fallen under 50 per cent capacity, having last year ended February at 99.5 per cent full.
Residential demand accounts for 73 per cent of water use across the Barwon Water region, meaning household changes can have a significant impact.
