Target 155 - 200 Litres This Week - One Week To Go

One Week to Go - How Low Can You Go?

With just one week till the first anniversary of Target 155, Melbourne's water authorities are calling for all Melburnians to refocus and reign in their water use this week, to re-instate the simple water-saving behaviours that have paved the way for the 155 Target to be attained for much of the last year.

This comes as record breaking temperatures bake Melbourne this month, weeks before the forecasted long, hot summer even officially starts. This week Melbourne's average residential consumption continued to surge past the 155 Target, to an unbelievable spring figure of 200 litres per person, per day - 45 litres above the target.

"While we are thankful for the slight dip on last week's staggering high of 204 litres, we are astounded that yesterday's consumption (which covers from 8am Wednesday to 8am Thursday) was as high as 209 litres and that last Saturday consumption peaked at 213 litres," details Mr Tony Kelly, Target 155 spokesperson and Managing Director of Yarra Valley Water.

"As we all feel the impacts of this latest heat wave, it is important to note that we're not asking Melburnians to turn off their evaporative air conditioner or to not care for their gardens. But we do need to offset these hot weather increases in other parts of the home, such as having shorter cool showers, diligently using grey water in the garden and looking into other things such as toilet cistern weights, to help us stay under Target 155.

The last two weeks, with the resulting surge in water consumption has seen us destroy nearly nine weeks of hard won water savings [1] - a concerning trend to be observing in the last weeks of Spring. We simply cannot see this pattern continue into summer, or we risk undoing much of the fantastic savings we have achieved under Target 155," explains Mr Kelly.

With just one week of Target 155 to go before its first anniversary, water authorities are imploring all Melburnians to take advantage of the cooler watehr and predicted rain, to dramatically reduce their water consumption this week, to claw back their hard won water savings under the program.

For more water saving tips and information head to www.target155.vic.gov.au

[1] Savings 4 Sept - 5 Nov 2009 = 102 litres

94 litres over Target 155 = 49 litres over for the week ending 12 Nov, 45 litres over target for week ending 19 Nov 2009

Under Stage 3a Water Restrictions:

* Lawns must not be watered at any time

* Even and no-numbered properties can water plants on Saturday and Tuesday 6am - 8am

* Odd-numbered properties can water plants on Sunday and Wednesday 6am - 8am

* Residents aged 70+ can water plants on their specified days between 6am - 8am OR the alternate time of 8am - 10am

* Automatic dripper systems can be used to water plants on specified watering days between midnight - 2am

* Rain/ grey water can be used at any time

* Cars can be washed at commercial car washes or at home using rain/ grey water

* No watering is permitted on Monday, Thursday and Friday.

For more water saving tips and information head to www.target155.vic.gov.au

For additional information or for interviews:

Caroline Doherty, Media Manager - Target 155
T(03) 9872 2473
M:0421 465 274
[email protected]

Rainfall Storages and Rainfall Data
Nick McGay, Melbourne Water
T(03) 9235 2287
M: 0438 981 836
[email protected]


SOURCE: Target 155, Yarra Valley Water