re: *** ozwater *** Rain fails to stop water...

re: *** ozwater *** Rain fails to stop water restrictions

12may05
WELCOME rain in south-east Queensland has failed to prevent the introduction of water restrictions.

Thirteen local councils in the region will tomorrow sign an agreement setting out uniform water restrictions after a drop in dam levels to an average of 40.4 per cent.

"This is the first time in our history all the councils have got together with a regional approach to water," a spokesman for Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said today.

Under the stage one restrictions, home garden sprinklers will only be permitted overnight during the hours of 7pm and 7am on an odds and evens house-number basis.

Restrictions will include a total ban on watering on Mondays, with odd numbered houses allowed to sprinkle on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and even-numbered houses restricted to Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.









Stage two restrictions will be invoked if dam levels drop to 35 per cent and stage three at 30 per cent, when only watering with buckets will be permitted, the spokesman said.

A total of 58.3 per cent of Queensland is now officially in drought.

Weather bureau forecaster Craig Mitchell said the rain over the last day has been patchy, with 12mm of rain recorded in the 24 hours to 9am today at Brisbane Airport.

In contrast, 96mm of rain was recorded at Warroo, near the border with New South Wales, while 53mm fell at Yeppoon and 65mm at Rockhampton on the central Queensland coast.

But the situation was far worse in the state's south-west, with a meagre 8mm recorded at both Quilpie and Charleville in the 24 hours to 9am today.

"It's really desperate out there," a spokeswoman for peak agricultural organisation Agforce said.