DON’T ‘RAIN’ ON PARADE

SOUTHEAST Queensland has not reached the stage where compulsory water restrictions are introduced – yet.

The Bureau of Meteorology recently reported Queensland’s warmest winter on record, with some of the lowest rainfall. Our long, dry winter followed a long, dry summer, but Cyclone Debbie proved to be a saviour when its impact was felt in April, adding up to six months of water supply to southeast dams.

There is a chance of rain between now and November, but if a dry summer eventuates then dam levels will be dropping. Our Hinze Dam might be flush with water, but the grid set up to drought-proof the heavily populated southeast of the state will see large volumes funnelled away to provide water in areas where drought will start to bite.

The Gold and Sunshine coasts are reported to be the heaviest users of water per head of population right now.

When storage gets down to 70 per cent, consumers will be urged to think about saving water. When it drops to 60 per cent, households will be asked to reduce use to 150 litres per person per day, and the Gold Coast Desalination Plant – dismissed by shortsighted critics as a white elephant – will be revved up to start pumping 125 million litres a day into the water grid.

If levels drop to 50 per cent, we’ll be back to compulsory restrictions and the city will find itself hosting the Commonwealth Games while asking locals and thousands of extra tourists pouring in for the event to turn the taps off and take short, sharp showers.