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Melbourne Water

Melbourne's water
storages
are currently

34.7%

12 March 2010

OVERALL
STORAGE
LEVEL

34.7%

WEEKLY
STORAGE
CHANGE

0.0% NO Change

SAME TIME
LAST
YEAR

30.2%

AVERAGE
DAILY
CONSUMPTION

133 L

AVERAGE
CATCHMENT
RAINFALL

65.3mm

Storage gain below expectations

Stage 3a water restrictions are now in place

Target 155

Seasonal factors stifled runoff from recent storms, with under 3 billion litres added to Melbourne’s storages on the back of heavy rain.

The major catchments received an average of 65.3mm (427% above normal). This delivered a net increase of 2.7 billion litres to reservoirs in four days.

Though well above average for March, the amount of water flowing into the major reservoirs was limited by the relatively dry soils in the catchments.

By comparison, a similar amount of rain over four days in October 2009 delivered a net storage increase of 15 billion litres – 5 times more than this week’s storms.

This contrast shows how rain when the catchments are already wet (especially in winter and spring) delivers much more than isolated downpours in warmer months.

Storages are now 34.7% (628.9 billion litres) full, compared with 30.2% (536.0 billion litres) at the same time last year – a difference of more than 92.9 billion litres.

The wet weather helped keep residential water use low, with Melburnians using 133 litres each a day.

More information on restrictions and tips on how to reach the target are available from Target 155 or by contacting the government water retailers.

Stage 3a restrictions and Target 155 are currently in place.

Daily residential water use for Melbourne
This graph shows Melbourne's water consumption

   PREVIOUS WEEKS
   CURRENT WEEK
   TARGET 155

All figures include non-metropolitan supply for Western Water (supplied since March 2000), which are not included in annual Melbourne metropolitan consumption figures.

Melbourne's water storages

View interactive storage graph for 1997-2010 (opens in a new window)

Current and historical Water Storage graph

   2007-08     2008-09     2009-10  
100% capacity = 1810.5 GL
NB: Prior to 26 June 2009, 100% capacity = 1773 GL

Total system storage (as of 11 March 2010)
Reservoir Capacity at full supply (ML) Current Volume (ML) % Full
Thomson 1,068,000 228,535 21.4%
Cardinia 287,000 99,982 34.8%
Upper Yarra 200,000 133,358 66.7%
Sugarloaf 96,000 59,502 62.0%
Silvan 40,000 36,406 91.0%
Tarago 37,500 21,909 58.4%
Yan Yean 30,000 8,936 29.8%
Greenvale 27,000 19,082 70.7%
Maroondah 22,000 18,535 84.3%
O'Shannassy 3,000 2,631 87.7%
Total 1,810,500 628,876 34.7%
Rainfall recorded at the reservoirs
Catchment 5 Mar - 11 Mar
2010
Average for
the period*
Variation 5 Mar - 11 Mar
2009
Thomson 62 mm 13.1 mm 373.3% above 6 mm
Upper Yarra 72.2 mm 11.4 mm 533.3% above 6.4 mm
O'Shannassy 66 mm 14 mm 371.4% above 16.8 mm
Maroondah 57.4 mm 10.9 mm 426.6% above 14.2 mm

* Average (30 year mean 1980-2009)

Stream flow for the major catchments
Catchment 5 Mar - 11 Mar
2010
Average for
the period*
Variation 5 Mar - 11 Mar
2009
Thomson 2103 ML 980 ML 114.6% above 689 ML
Upper Yarra 858 ML 590 ML 45.4% above 161 ML
O'Shannassy 1375 ML 660 ML 108.3% above 552 ML
Maroondah 1037 ML 620 ML 67.3% above 457 ML
Total 5373 ML 2850 ML 88.5% above 1859 ML

* Average (30 year mean 1980-2009)

Note: These results are preliminary and are validated at the end of the month.

Yarra Catchment
Report for period 4 March - 10 March 2010 (inclusive):

  • Current seven day rolling average flows for Yarra River @ Yarra Glen = 322.1 ML/day (up 99.1 ML/day from the previous week)
  • Current seven day rolling average flows for Yarra River @ Warrandyte = 345.5 ML/day (up 138.0 ML/day from the previous week)
  • Current seven day rolling average flows for Little Yarra River @ Yarra Junction = 38.6 ML/day (up 22.2 ML/day from the previous week)
  • Current seven day rolling average flows for Woori Yallock Creek @ Yellingbo = 42.5 ML/day (up 26.6 ML/day from the previous week)
  • Total rainfall at Upper Yarra Reservoir for March is 25.2 mm (long-term monthly average for March is 57.8 mm)
  • Total rainfall at Silvan Reservoir for March is 77 mm (long-term monthly average for March is 58.6 mm)

Maribyrnong Catchment
Report for period 4 March - 10 March 2010 (inclusive):

Rosslyne Reservoir
Melbourne Water's Capacity Share of the storage as at 8 March 2010 was 33 Megalitres (ML)

  • Current release from Rosslyne (as at 8 March 2010) to meet bulk entitlement demands = 0 ML/day
  • Current seven day rolling average flows for Jacksons Creek @ Sunbury = 20.5 ML/day (up 20.5 ML/day from the previous week)
  • Current seven day rolling average flows for Deep Creek @ Bulla = 196.7 ML/day (up 195.4 ML/day from the previous week)
  • Current seven day rolling average flows for Maribyrnong River @ Keilor (Brimbank Park) = 163.7 ML/day (up 162.4 ML/day from the previous week)
  • Total rainfall at Rosslyne Reservoir for March is 55.4 mm (long-term monthly average for March is 40.6 mm)

Note: Passing flows at Keilor, as per the bulk entitlement agreement, require 5.0 ML/day or natural, whichever is the lesser, to be passed at Keilor. Natural flows are based on flows at Deep Ck @ Bulla gauging station.

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