RECENT rainfall has raised levels at Myrtleford's domestic water storage, but the community is still being urged to help conserve water usage wherever possible to help stave off any mandatory water restrictions.
North East Water (NEW) general manager of environment, systems and operations, John Day, told the Myrtleford Times that additional rainfall over the past couple of weeks has enabled NEW to resume water extraction from Buffalo Creek.
"The Nil Gully reservoir, where Myrtleford’s water supply is stored, is currently sitting at 55 per cent, an increase of approximately 12 per cent over the last three weeks," he said.
"While this is a positive development, the reservoir level is usually at around 85 per cent at this time of year, and it remains lower than it was during the Millennium Drought.
"We continue to encourage Myrtleford residents to conserve water wherever possible as the potential for water restrictions in the coming months remains a real concern if we don’t receive further significant rainfall this winter.”
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Efforts to conserve Myrtleford's water consumption throughout May and June have been positive, with reductions of daily household water use from 590 litres to 505 litres achieved on most days.
According to NEW, Myrtleford's total water consumption for the week ending 8 June (last week of the water savings campaign) was 8,763,000 litres.
In the past three weeks consumption has been 8,111,700 litres (week ending 15 June), 8,748,000 litres (week ending 22 June), and 8,078,000 litres (week ending 29 June).
The town's water consumption has been in sync with rainfall events in June, with the two lowest weeks coming after significant rainfall events.
These rainfall events have not only been good for the gardens, but also local lakes, with Lake Buffalo's water level having risen from 12,200ML (52%) on June 7 up to 18,845ML (80.18%) on June 29.
The increases came from two significant rainfall events within the immediate Ovens catchment during the month, with around 47mm falling on 8 June and 88.2mm recorded on 24/25 June.
It takes the total monthly rainfall for June to 175.8mm, which makes it the wettest month of this year ahead of 145mm in March, and brings the year to date rainfall to 449mm.
To access water-wise tips, visit: https://www.waterwise.tips/myrtleford
