The Gold Coast Bulletin

REMEMBER WHEN

Tuesday September 12 2006

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FORGET the hose and don’t throw away the bucket - even the flooding rains didn’t keep the Gold Coast from being forced on to Level 4 water restrictio­ns.

However, instead of using the bucket whenever you like, the tougher controls were to severely limit when you could water your garden.

The Water Commission recommende­d southeast Queensland begin the stringent restrictio­ns, even if rain kept the Wivenhoe Dam above 25 per cent capacity.

Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke, who attended a meeting of mayors with the commission, said it was believed residents and businesses needed a date to work towards.

Residents were to be forced to limit their bucket watering in an odds and evens system similar to that previously imposed on hosing.

They were only be able to bucket three days a week between 4am and 8am, and 4pm and 8pm. There was to be no watering on Mondays.

The hosing exemption remained for the disabled and the elderly.

Instead of being able to hose for one hour on a Saturday or Sunday, they would have to break their hosing into two, 30minute blocks on different days.

Pool covers for all residents who fill their pools from town supply were to be mandatory by July 2007.

Only those using rainwater to fill their pools would be exempt.

Residents also had to show they had two of three watersavin­g initiative­s in their homes including dual-flush toilets, a four-star rated washing machine or all internal water outlets fitted with water-saving heads.

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