REMEMBER WHEN

Gold Coast Bulletin Saturday, January 12, 2008

GOLD Coast residents guzzled water from the brim-full Hinze Dam in an act of defiance against Brisbane bureaucrats who refused to ease water restrictions.

Figures obtained by The Weekend Bulletin showed water consumption exceeded the 130 million litre target every day since the dam reached capacity a week earlier.

Gold Coasters adhered to water restrictions over Christmas when consumption dropped to almost 115 million litres but had clearly had enough of the poor treatment from Brisbane.

For seven consecutive days since January 4, water consumption varied between 132 and 143 million litres. The average consumption was 136.6 million litres – more than six million litres above the daily target.

Prior to the dam filling, Gold Coast residents had done well in keeping below the target.

On January 1, the city used just 126.76 million litres.

Mayor Ron Clarke reaffirmed his commitment to continue lobbying the Queensland Water Commission to have water restrictions reduced from Level 6 to Level 2 – which would allow beach showers.

Cr Clarke said he could understand why residents were using more water.

‘‘And I don’t blame them,’’ he said. ‘‘Of course residents are frustrated, so am I.

‘‘We can’t condone people breaking the law but water usage has only been about 140 million litres a day which is still under what it was 10 years ago. Our residents have done a great job.’’