Perth weekly water update - 20 May 2022
| Target | Actual | |
|---|---|---|
| May water use to date |
14.4 billion litres |
14.5 billion litres |
| Dam storage levels | N/A | 50.3% |
| Monthly streamflow into dams | N/A | 0 billion litres |
| May rainfall to date | 116.9mm (May average rainfall 1876-2016) | 25.4mm |
| Note: 1 billion litres = approximately 400 Olympic swimming pools. Please note the figures in this table are rounded (except for rainfall) to the nearest whole number. | ||
Water use
Average water use over the past week was 698 million litres per day – below the demand forecast of 741 million litres per day.
Daily water use for the last five days
| Date | Actual water use (million litres) | Forecast water use (million litres) |
|---|---|---|
| 20/05/2022 | 787 | 731 |
| 19/05/2022 | 734 | 731 |
| 18/05/2022 | 680 | 731 |
| 17/05/2022 | 737 | 753 |
| 16/05/2022 | 633 | 753 |
| Note: water use is calculated up to 8am each day for the previous 24 hour period. | ||
Since 1 July 2021 to date, we have used 279.2 billion litres of water – which is 10.3 billion litres above the forecast target for this period.
Dam levels (total for 15 dams)
The dam storage levels are slightly up on last week and are sitting at a combined 50.3 per cent* of full capacity.
*Please note some dams are filled from different sources - dam levels include the transfer of groundwater and desalinated seawater from treatment plants as well as streamflow (that comes from rainfall). As we use many different sources of water, dams are no longer an accurate indicator of the health of Perth's overall water supply situation.
Streamflow (total for 15 dams)
From 1 May 2022, the dams have received 0.0 billion litres of streamflow. The post-1975 average for the May to April period (called the streamflow year) is 174.8 billion litres.
Sprinkler roster compliance
Since 1 January 2022, we have taken a total of 2,121 actions (warnings + fines) compared with 2,162 actions for the same period in 2021.
Annual rainfall
Perth has received 109.4mm of rainfall since 1 January 2022. The average (1876-2016) rainfall for the same period to the end of May is 202.8mm.
General water news
With the wet weather well and truly upon us, Perth and Peel residents are being encouraged to switch off their sprinklers early to help save water in the lead up to winter.
We all need to do our bit to conserve our precious water resource. The stark reality is that climate change is causing drastically lower rainfall throughout the year and depleting our groundwater sources.
While Perth received a drenching last winter, long-term average rainfall has declined by around 20 per cent since the 1970s, leading to an 80 per cent reduction in streamflow to metropolitan dams.
If everyone across Perth-Peel switched off their sprinklers for the rest of May, an additional two billion litres of water could be saved.
So, switch off now and let mother nature take care of the yard.