The Tamworth Regional Council will introduce level two water restrictions for Tamworth, Moonbi and Kootingal residents on Monday.
It’s expected Chaffey Dam it will hit 35% capacity in the next two days which as per the council’s drought management plan will trigger level two water restrictions for the first time since July 2016.
Under level two restrictions;
· Sprinklers, sprays, micro jet sprays and fixed hoses cannot be used.
· Hand-held hoses can be used for two hours only each day between 6pm and 8pm Daylight Saving Time.
· Vehicles can only be washed wit a hand held hose between 6pm and 8pm however buckets can be used any time.
· Residents must seek council’s permission to top pools their pools up if the capacity is above 5 kiloliters.
The level two restrictions will come into effect just three weeks after level one came in on the 15th of January.
Director of Water and Waste Bruce Logan says the level one restrictions didn’t meet the goal of reducing water consumption to between 20 to 25 megalitres per day.
“We certainly didn’t see a reduction in (water) consumption with level one restrictions and that’s obviously disappointing, but probably understandable given the weather that we have seen.” Logan said.
Around 20 residents were caught not complying with the level one restrictions and Logan says the council will step up their policing of the restrictions as they come more severe.
“Level two is much more re-stringent than level one and obviously we’ll step up our patrols to make sure people are complying with those restrictions and make sure they’re not using sprinklers anymore.” Logan said.