CLUB’S PLEA TO HELP OUT ELDERLY

TOWNSVILLE garden enthusiasts are calling on Townsville City Council to amend the times during which residents can water their gardens under Level 3 water restrictions.

The city’s green thumbs say watering between 6pm and 7pm, and 6am and 7am is dangerous during winter months with fewer daylight hours, especially for senior citizens.

“Gardens can be hazardous places, and watering in the dark can mean people can easily trip and fall,” Townsville and District Garden Club president Marion Kreuger said.

“The largest percentage of our members at the club are senior ladies, mostly widows, 70- plus, so it is also a safety issue for these women to be out in their gardens in the dark.

“It’s ridiculous not to amend the water times during the winter months. The council says we can use buckets of water, or watering cans, anytime during the day, but do they really think that’s something elderly people can manage?”

Under Level 3 water restrictions, residents are limited to hosing their gardens between 6pm and 7pm and 6am and 7am, on the odds and evens house number system.

Garden club vice- president Martin Boorer said the council needed to examine the possibility of residents seeking liability if they tripped and injured themselves because the rules called for watering mostly in the dark.

“Before introducing demand management a thorough risk assessment is required,” he said. “It’s dark at 6pm, and it’s dark until about 6.30am. Gardeners have about half an hour to water their garden in daylight hours, between about 6.30am and 7am under the council’s current regulations.”

Mr Boorer said he acknowledged tough water restrictions were needed, but the council needed to show “good faith” and “listen” to residents’ concern about the time they could use hand- held hoses.

“The council can’t put this in the too- hard basket, saying it’s too hard to police and so on,” he said.

“The council must show that they can be flexible. The watering times simply don’t make sense. Our gardens will die.”

Townsville Water and Waste Committee chair Cr Paul Jacob said the council had listened to the concerns of residents when Level 3 restrictions were introduced in 2016.

“Council amended watering times last August after elderly residents raised concerns about watering in the dark,” Cr Jacob said. “At that time we changed the 6- 8pm watering hours to 6am to 7am and 6pm to 7pm on the odds and evens system to better suit their needs.”

Cr Jacob said making a special time for one sector of the community was problematic.

“It’s a difficult balancing act for council because we need to accommodate daytime workers, families, retirees and shift workers,” he said.

“We understand that for a few months over winter it gets darker sooner, but with the changes we made to assist pensioners last year, we think we’ve got the times that give everyone a fair go.”

Cr Jacob reminded residents they also had the option to use watering cans at any time to water their plants.