Teetering on the brink

Water restrictions now looming large

A SOLITARY percentage point stands between lawns and oblivion as Cairns Regional Council’s water restrictions trigger finger gets itchy.

Copperlode Dam is sitting ominously at 81 per cent capacity, just above the 80 per cent mark needed to activate sprinkler sanctions.

It could happen today, it could happen tomorrow, it may even hold out until the end of the week.

Mayor Bob Manning is taking an optimistic outlook and banking on the latter.

“Eighty per cent is the trig- ger and when we get to it, the trigger will be pulled,” he said.

“I’m not going to say I’ve never seen it this dry before.

“But I can’t recall Cairns being brown like this very often.

“And I hate impersonating Townsville.”

The outlook is looking decidedly dry for the coming days but there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Chris Joseph said there was an ever-so-slight chance of showers arriving on the Far North tropical coast. “There’s a 20 per cent chance on Tuesday, 30 per cent on Wednesday and 60 per cent on Thursday,” he said.

“So we have a gradual increase in the chance of showers due to a south-westerly change. The change pushes up the coast slowly, and when it comes to the tropics around midweek I think we’ll see a gradual increase in shower activity.”

Tinaroo Dam is sitting at just below 74 per cent capacity, but Mr Joseph said dry conditions were expected to continue for some time in the inland areas of Far North Queensland.

“Unfortunately, those inland parts are still going to cop those heatwave conditions through much of the next week,” he said.

“But from Wednesday, we should see easterly winds push inland and begin to cool things down.

“We should see the temperatures fall during the week.”

Mr Joseph said Friday and Saturday would present Cairns’ best chances of rain. Cr Manning has suggested the council choose a few key parks to keep watered and green as urban oases for families with depressing lawns.

“That’s a decision for the council to make,” he said.

“In Longreach, we always watered a couple of nice parks so mums and kids could go there to play on the weekend.”