Five-minute showers, no watering the lawn and pools are banned: Inside one of Australia’s most drought-ravaged towns – as it’s hit with savage new water restrictions
- The city of Dubbo in the New South Wales central west faces having no water
- From October 1, its residents will be restricted to having five-minute showers
- They will be banned from watering their lawn, washing walls or filling kids’ pools
- The water restrictions will become stricter with 99 per cent of NSW in drought
- Residents face $220 fines for hosing lawn, washing car with bucket after midday
Residents in a city northwest of Sydney will soon be banned from having showers lasting longer than five minutes amid fears water will run out next year.
The ‘crisis’ is so bad in Dubbo the mayor Ben Shields and his fellow councillors have voted to tighten water restrictions.
Locals will soon face fines of $220 for watering their lawn or washing their car, even with a bucket on the grass, after midday.
A city northwest of Sydney faces losing its supply of drinking water and its residents will soon be banned from having showers lasting longer than five minutes
The Burrendong dam in the state’s central west is at just 4.4 per cent capacity as 99 per cent of New South Wales suffers from one of the worst droughts in living memory
The Burrendong dam in the state’s central west is at just 4.4 per cent capacity as 99 per cent of New South Wales suffers from one of the worst droughts in living memory.
Under Dubbo’s level three water restrictions, starting next week, residents will be restricted to five-minute showers.
They will also be banned from watering their lawns, washing walls or having inflatable or temporary children’s pools.
Motorists will only be allowed to bucket-wash their cars between 9am and noon.
The restrictions are coming in place on October 1, following a vote of Dubbo Regional Council on Monday night.
Mr Shields, a fifth-generation Dubbo resident, said dam was expected to run out by May next year, which would force the city to rely on bore water.
‘This is a crisis and we all need to pull our socks up and start saving water,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘There’s always been drought but never the situation where there’s barely no inflow into Burrendong dam.
Residents will soon face fines of $220 for watering their lawn or washing their car, even with a bucket on the lawn, after midday (pictured is Dubbo airport)
‘Even the millennium drought had some sort of inflow.
‘We’ve never really had big water restrictions in Dubbo, we’ve always had a good, reliable water supply.’
Council inspectors will soon be tasked with fining residents $220 if they are caught watering their lawn or washing their car with a bucket outside the hours of 9am and midday.
‘There will be active patrols,’ Mr Shields said.
‘There are some people who are upset.’
Councillor Dayne Gumley successfully moved that restrictions be bumped to the ‘very high’ level four category from November 1, because moderate water restrictions introduced in June had failed to reduce water consumption.
Mayor Ben Shields described the drought affecting Dubbo as a ‘crisis’
The father-of-six, whose children are aged between five and 12, was preparing to limit his household washing to just two loads a week.
‘That is going to be a hard ask,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It’s about about changing habits and a bit more forward planning.’
Dubbo is home to the Western Plains Zoo, which the Queen and Prince Philip visited in 1992.
These water restrictions will only be the third for Dubbo in three decades.
The council will embark on a $250,000 education campaign as it aims to reduce average water usage per person by 16 per cent.