Water restrictions are a thing of the past – as long as we continue to use water wisely.
Three new bores
Until recently Arrowtown relied on a single bore for its municipal water supply. This bore has a maximum yield of 50 litres per second (l/s).
The problem is that on hot dry summer days – and over a couple of days last spring – Arrowtown’s water demand exceeds 50 l/s, sometimes going as high as 80 l/s. Of course when we take water from the reservoirs faster than it's going in, the level drops and the reservoirs could even empty completely.
One new bore in Bush Creek was commissioned in December 2018, and two more were commissioned on 23 December 2019. Each of these newest bores has a yield of up to 80 l/s (although the total yield is limited to 100 l/s in accordance with the Bore Water Permit issued by ORC).
It is anticipated that a potential 100 l/s going in to the reservoirs will match demand at its recorded highest. Having three operational bores has also provided redundancy. If one of the bores fails, the others can take up the slack, which means that QLDC doesn't need to keep emergency reservoir water storage.
New reservoir on hold
The project to build a bigger reservoir will not go ahead as planned. Costs were going to be higher than allowed for, and now it seems it is no longer needed.
The project was intended to increase the gross reservoir storage equivalent from 6 hours' to 12 hours' demand on a peak day – but a risk assessment determined that having three bores mostly mitigated the less than ideal existing reservoir storage. The Arrowtown reservoir project will be reassessed once the performance of the bores has been evaluated.
Keep conserving water
This is all great news for Arrowtown, but please be aware it isn’t licence to leave your sprinklers running all day. Demand management is still essential to ensuring that our infrastructure is suitable into the future. Extracting and treating water costs money, and responsible usage will help to ensure QLDC can invest where most appropriate. So please continue your efforts to use water wisely:
- Use a timer for your sprinkler. Water your lawn for an hour between midnight and 6am, when demand on the water supply is low.
- Check the arc of your sprinkler and make sure you’re watering the garden or lawn, not the path and driveway.
- Check for and fix leaks: A leaking toilet may not be obvious, but it can waste thousands of litres of water in a year
- If you see signs of a leaking water main on public property, report it to Council on 03 441 0499 or using the online service request form.