Renwick urged to conserve water

He said the council would have to reduce the volume of water being taken from wells if levels dipped to between 1000mm and 800mm.

‘‘At present, the daily bore water level drops about 100mm a day, so towards the end of this week I expect we will have to reduce what we take from the bores,’’ he said.

‘‘When we reduce what we take from the bores, we need a corresponding reduction in peak demand. If there isn’t, the water storage tanks will empty and for a short period Renwick will have no water.’’

Rooney said the council was seeing 55 litres per second extracted from the reservoir, with peak demand in the evening getting up to 63 litres per second for up to four hours.

‘‘We manage this demand by sourcing water from the bores and the storage tanks,’’ he said. ‘‘If people can reduce their water use now, we can avoid water restrictions later.’’

Renwick’s water supply was set to be strengthened with a new $3.85 million water plant, which included both a reservoir and water treatment plant, in late 2021.

Construction of its new reservoir on the outskirts of town was set to kick off in the coming months, and would be followed by a new water treatment plant down the track.

Renwick residents were also set to ditch their flat water fee for a metered charge, though this was not expected to occur until the 2021 financial year.

Metering would allow the council to gather information about how much each household used, and where leaks were, as well as redistributing costs so people paid less if they cut back on usage.