Water praise flows

By Tania Martin
MOUNT Evelyn residents are doing their bit to maintain Melbourne’s water storage levels.
They are definitely not wallies with water after recording a six per cent drop in usage since 2008.
Figures released last month showed that Mount Evelyn residents had reduced their daily water use from 453 litres to 426.
Nearby in Montrose residents also recorded a 6 per cent drop from 459 litres a day to 430 litres.
But Monbulk was the hills best water saving town with an 11 per cent drop from 443 litres a day to 396.
Yarra Valley Water (YVW) managing director Tony Kelly said residents had done a great job reducing water consumption.
But he said less water had flowed into Melbourne’s dams in the past 10 years than in any other period on record.
Mr Kelly said this highlighted the need for residents to continue to keep up their water saving efforts.
“Storage levels were almost full in the 1990s but rarely rose above 60 per cent in the past decade and were as low as 25 per cent mid 2009,” he said.
Mr Kelly said storages were now below 36 per cent and that last summer consumption regularly rose above 200 litres per person per day.
He said on 29 January last year water use skyrocketed to more than 290 litres per person per day and that customers still had to be careful.
“Although summer is coming to an end, we still have more hot weather ahead of us and water storages are continuing to deplete so it’s vital that we keep consumption as low as possible,” Mr Kelly said.
YVW had urged residents to take shorter shows and use water saving devices such as flow restrictors for taps, and install water efficient showerheads.