New South Wales water supply problems continue

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Pejar dam near Goulburn, New South Wales

The inland city of Goulburn is still facing major water restrictions despite an easing in drought in the State over the past few months. The water levels in the city's dam, the Pejar Dam, are still very low at 11% full, with the total water supply at 32% capacity in comparison to 36% capacity over the same period last year. Available capacity for the city at 31 October 2005 was still under 20% and the water consumption rate of the city is approximately half compared with the five-year average.

Above average rainfalls in September 2005 have delayed some of the harder decisions facing the town in the middle of the year, such as the closing down of industries dependent on water usage. In May 2005, Pejar Dam was at 10% of its capacity and the town was looking at running out of water within eight months. There had been no significant rainfall since December 2004 and the dam was last full in November 2000.

Sources

"Goulburn region drought declaration lifted" — Australian Broadcasting Corporation, November 14, 2005

"Water supply update" — Goulburn Mulwaree Council, November 3, 2005

"Drought maps - areas of NSW suffering drought conditions" — Government of New South Wales, November 14, 2005

Michael Byrnes. "Australian Drought Towns Run Out of Water" — Planet Ark, June 20, 2005

Jo McKenna. "Goulburn's water problems frustrate residents" — The 7.30 Report, May 19, 2005

David Mark. "Eyes on Goulburn as water supply hits crisis point" — Radio National, May 17, 2005

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.