Fury as city-dwelling Australians use more water than last year despite crippling drought leaving regional areas on the verge of running dry
- City-dwelling Australians being urged to lower their water usage due to drought
- Average person in south-east QLD using 33 litres more a day more than last year
- Some towns in rural NSW and QLD are on the verge of running out of water
City-dwelling Australians are using more water than this time last year despite a severe drought gripping much of the country.
Startling new figures reveal south-east Queenslanders used 221 litres of water per person per day this week.
This is 33 litres more per person per day than this time last year.
Residents are being urged to cut back on water usage before heavy water restrictions are introduced – with the target being 150 litres of water per person per day.
City-dwelling Australians are using more water than this time last year despite a severe drought gripping much of the country (stock image)
City-dwelling residents are being urged to cut back on water usage before heavy water restrictions are introduced due to the severe drought in rural Australia (pictured is Broken Hill)
When every drop counts, experts say cutting showers by a minute will save nine litres of water.
Using the half flush saves 30 litres of water a day while turning off the tap while brushing your teeth saves five litres every minute.
And for those with a pool, using a cover will save you 36,000 litres a year.
During the drought of the early 2000s water usage was lowered to just 124 litres per person per day.
‘It’s really important that we all rally together and save as much water as we can to try and preserve those dam levels over summer,’ Michelle Cull from QLD Urban Utilities told 9 News.
A burst water main at Chapel Hill in Brisbane on Saturday just another reminder of how important it is to save every drop of water.
Some towns in rural NSW and QLD are on the verge of completely running out of water – with it being trucked into some towns already.
‘If folk in the city could see how bad it is in the west… they’d have second thoughts about how much water they used,’ said Kay Thorpe from Care Outreach.
It comes before the toughest water restrictions since the Millenium drought will be introduced next month in NSW.
A burst water main at Chapel Hill in Brisbane on Saturday just another reminder of how important it is to save every drop of water (pictured)
Level two water restrictions will come into effect in Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra regions on December 10.
The restriction will see a ban on hoses, requiring residents to use a bucket to wash their cars and a watering can to water their plants during approved times.
The stricter rules were announced after it was discovered the dam level for the greater Sydney catchment was sitting around 46.2 per cent – the lowest in the past 10 years.
Sydney last saw level two water restrictions in 2003. They were upgraded to level three in 2005 due to the Millenium drought.