Melbourne Water

Weekly Water Report

5 March 2010

Little rain as storages continue decline

A week of minimal rainfall has seen water storages drop by 0.3% of capacity.

The decrease represents an overall decline of 6.3 billion litres.

The major catchments received between 2.6 to 11.0 mm of rain during the week, with an average of 6.5 mm.

This was 40% below the long-term average for the period, 10.9 mm. As a result, streamflow into the major reservoirs was below par. The 2.0 billion litres of streamflow was 30% below the average of 2.9 billion litres.

With dry conditions in the catchments, consistent rain over days and weeks is needed for storages to increase.

Storages are now 34.7% (627.9 billion litres) full, compared with 30.6% (543.2 billion litres) at the same time last year.

Residential water consumption was above the Target of 155 litres per person per day.

Melburnians used an average of 164 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

   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)

   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 4 March 2010)

Reservoir	Capacity at full supply (ML)	Current Volume (ML)	% Full
Thomson	1,068,000	227,288	21.3%
Cardinia	287,000	101,305	35.3%
Upper Yarra	200,000	134,311	67.2%
Sugarloaf	96,000	60,531	63.1%
Silvan	40,000	35,900	89.8%
Tarago	37,500	21,826	58.2%
Yan Yean	30,000	8,157	27.2%
Greenvale	27,000	18,640	69.0%
Maroondah	22,000	17,613	80.1%
O'Shannassy	3,000	2,353	78.4%
Total	1,810,500	627,924	34.7%

Rainfall recorded at the reservoirs

Catchment	26 Feb - 4 Mar 2010	Average for the period*	Variation	26 Feb - 4 Mar 2009
Thomson	2.6 mm	11.6 mm	77.6% below	10.8 mm
Upper Yarra	11 mm	9.7 mm	13.4% above	17 mm
O'Shannassy	7.2 mm	10.8 mm	33.3% below	22.6 mm
Maroondah	9.6 mm	11.8 mm	18.6% below	26.8 mm

* Average (30 year mean 1980-2009)

Stream flow for the major catchments

Catchment	26 Feb - 4 Mar 2010	Average for the period*	Variation	26 Feb - 4 Mar 2009
Thomson	667 ML	970 ML	31.2% below	410 ML
Upper Yarra	291 ML	630 ML	53.8% below	127 ML
O'Shannassy	692 ML	690 ML	0.3% above	381 ML
Maroondah	388 ML	630 ML	38.4% below	395 ML
Total	2038 ML	2920 ML	30.2% below	1313 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 25 February - 3 March 2010 (inclusive):

• Current seven day rolling average flows for Yarra River @ Yarra Glen = 223 ML/day (down 113.3 ML/day from the previous week)
• Current seven day rolling average flows for Yarra River @ Warrandyte = 207.5 ML/day (up 10.5 ML/day from the previous week)
• Current seven day rolling average flows for Little Yarra River @ Yarra Junction = 16.4 ML/day (down 0.8 ML/day from the previous week)
• Current seven day rolling average flows for Woori Yallock Creek @ Yellingbo = 15.9 ML/day (down 1.4 ML/day from the previous week)
• Total rainfall at Upper Yarra Reservoir for March is 11.2 mm (long-term monthly average for March is 57.8 mm)
• Total rainfall at Upper Yarra Reservoir for February is 69.8 mm (long-term monthly average for February is 45.4 mm)
• Total rainfall at Silvan Reservoir for March is 0.8 mm (long-term monthly average for March is 58.6 mm)
• Total rainfall at Silvan Reservoir for February is 36.6 mm (long-term monthly average for February is 49.1 mm)

Maribyrnong Catchment
Report for period 25 February - 3 March 2010 (inclusive):

Rosslyne Reservoir
Melbourne Water's Capacity Share of the storage as at 1 March 2010 was 31 Megalitres (ML)

• Current release from Rosslyne (as at 1 March 2010) to meet bulk entitlement demands = 0 ML/day
• Current seven day rolling average flows for Jacksons Creek @ Sunbury = 0 ML/day (down 0.7 ML/day from the previous week)
• Current seven day rolling average flows for Deep Creek @ Bulla = 1.3 ML/day (down 12.5 ML/day from the previous week)
• Current seven day rolling average flows for Maribyrnong River @ Keilor (Brimbank Park) = 1.3 ML/day (down 5.4 ML/day from the previous week)
• Total rainfall at Rosslyne Reservoir for March is 0.4 mm (long-term monthly average for March is 40.6 mm)
• Total rainfall at Rosslyne Reservoir for February is 48.6 mm (long-term monthly average for February 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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