Water everywhere!

[nonibbles]

I wonder how much we can hold on to...

Ross River Dam is at 35% and rising fast (3m below spillway) must be a lot of surface area to cover if that's only 35%!!

Burdekin river is apparrently 8m deep at Macrossan Bridge (it rose 4m just today) only 3.5m to go and its over (11.5m). That bridge is a bloody long way above the river bed and that's usually all you can see!

Burdekin Dam is running over the spillway big time (2+ metres clear)

Airlie Beach is an Island!

There's water everywhere.

Stupid thing is, in Townsville, all the rain that falls over the city doesn't go to the dam - it goes out to sea via the Bohle, Black and Alice River after the Woolcock St Drainage system.

The catchment area for the dam doesn't usually get as much runnoff or rain as the Burdekin so let's just hope that the dam level keeps rising. It'd be nice to get a photo of the new dam full for the first time.

[Simmo2]

And more to come mate!!

[finga]

Yep, seems to be water happening all around the place.
Stanthorpe went from level 5 restrictions to none overnight.
Hinze dam on the Gold Coast is over full (105% last week) but the Gold Coast still has level 6 restrictions??? Why that is so has got me really stuffed.
Brisbane dams are up over 25% as a total (I wonder how high they have to rise before some restrictions are taken off).
Down the North coast of NSW there's water lying everywhere with a distinct mud smell in the air in Lismore and surrounds.

[FNQCairns]

Enough water to cover up "all those rocks" ?

cheers fnq

[Nic]

I just can't believe the number of little kids I've seen half-submerged in the flooded gutters of busy roads, or riding inflatable toys in the swollen creeks that intersect the highway. I am so not in Brisbane any more!

[oldboot]

Townsville has always had the potential to get realy wet.......My sisters husband is always ready to regail us with stories of chasing huge barra thru the railway yards on foot and other such stuff.

Don't forget lots of people in Townsville have bores or wells and have for years & all that water in town fills that aquafer......

dont forget they do have an impoundment in town...... its called hermit park

The burdikin is running over I've been told that is somthing I have to see....aparantly lots of big barra make a bid for freedom when that happens too.

That burdikin........I've only seen it running at a trickle but all you have to do is look at the huge trench it has doug......thats impressive enough......& this river breaks its banks ......this has to be one of our few GREAT rivers.


as for the whole SEQ thing........I dont think we will see the brisband water restrictions lifted at all till wyvenhoe reaches 35%.......then you can bett they will drag their feet lifting them.

Of course they aren't telling the whole story, and they havn't right thru this whole fiasco........I do not believe brisbane will ever move below level 2 water restrictions.......even if all the dams are full nad its raining buckets..... certainly not without a change of government.

It was made very clear to me very early in the piece that Redlands would never come off water restrictions, regardless.

Is this good... or ... bad......I'm still thinkin.

Just notice that the albert & logan are running a banker........now how would thet dam that was suposed to go in down tamborine way be doing now....hmmmm....But labour said we didnt need that one........ but we need one on the Mary..... hmmm

cheers

[Lovey80]

Is it really such a bad thing that Brisbane never comes off water restrictions altogether?? We have been living with the harshest for a long time, level 2 will be a walk in the park.

I would rather live in Brisbane and have to drink bottled water than see someone elses back yard damed. If recycling and desalination was exhausted and still we couldn't keep enough water then "Maybe" the Mary is worth considering but until both those measures are completely exhausted i think it is a crime that this government is even contemplating it.

Labour has a lot to answer for in this state and I am still cursing everyone for voting them in Federaly.

Cheers Chris

[BaitThrower]

I agree, even if the brissie dams are at 100%, there should still be some restrictions in place to prevent blatant loss of water for no real reason. Its all about sustainability for the future (although we do need more dams too!).

At current time there is a big rain band moving slowly right over the catchment area so things are looking good to hit 30% soon I think.

Some of the restrictions are a pain in the bum. i.e. I don't see why I can go to Carlovers and use their high pressure hoses when I have a high pressure spray gun unit here that I am not even allowed to connect to a bucket and use to quickly wash down the boat? Yeah I know I should get a tank installed :-)
But some of the rules are a bit silly, but I guess people love to flaunt the rules, so thats why we are restricted plenty in the face of absent common sense (in some instances).

[Peter4]

Any word on Peter Faust Dam at Proserpine.

Last I heard it was at 30% and rising but that was late last week......

[Deestingray]

I have no doubt in my mind that we won't see much of a downgrade in water restrictions even if our dams do fill up. From what I can tell, it was the governments way of prepping the city to be more water conscious partly because we had no water to waste due to the drought, but another reason possibly because they know that we do not have the water infrastructure in place to be able to sustain the growing population for long. Add to that the amount of water that the two tunnelling machines waste on a daily basis for Brisbanes so called solution to worstening congestion around the city. Recycled water is still a few years away before it is up and running and even then will only be able to service a small percentage of the suburbs. We will see........I personally don't mind the restrictions too much and definitely agree that there should be something in place, it is a pain though to have to spend 5 bucks down at the laserwash just to wash my boat after a run and to also feel guilty at having to use water to flush the outboard at home.

[RayDeR]

G'day!

The reason Brisbane will never come completely off water restrictions is that the infrastructure can not cope.

Brisbane has been "delighted" that hundred of people are now living in the Valley area and in the city centre. The water infrasture (read reservoirs) used to recover overnight when the city was empty. Now there is water demand 24/7.

Likewise just look at the new houses, town houses and units which have been constructed. Where there were ppaddocks there are now suburbs. Where there was a family living in an old Queenslandert here are now maybe a dozen people living in 6 townhouses.

Where are all the new pipelines and reservoirs (not dams but in Brisbane reservoirs) to cope with all this growth? Thats why the Brisbane City Council under Jim Soorley etc asked us to be waterwise.

Don't forget if it costs $100 (add as many dollars as you like) to supply 10 litres of water thats $10 a litre. It will still cost $100 or more to supply you with 5 lites so thats $20 a litre. So we get to pay $20 a litre water rates. Then they allow us to use more but we will still pay $20 a litre. Hmmm...

RayDeR

[finga]

Any word on Peter Faust Dam at Proserpine.

Last I heard it was at 30% and rising but that was late last week......

Here's a link for a lot of dams.
http://www.sunwater.com.au/water_store.htm

For the Peter Faust look at the top right corner and click on select a dam or weir and scroll down to Peter Faust and click on it.
It appears it's still 30%

[Marlin_Mike]

Looking at the rain they are copping up north, looks like all dams up there will rise dramatically.

Mike

[FNQCairns]

Water supply just like electricity is all about profit, they want as much consumed as possible.

Considering the domestic supply accounts for just a piddling 9% (or less) of all water 'sold' after treatment in SEQ from the dams, how does it feel to be entirely duped!

Now with the drought effectivly broken in all but mm of rain, how can the Government keep the green ideology alive with just 9% domestic consumption (before restriction) without increasing the domestic cost (decreasing profit) stupidly, being as domestic supply is such a minor user of water in the first place.

Was domestic water use halved during the highest restrictions? So restrictions save the water supply 4% overall??.

Still do not understand why anyone was not allowed to wash their boat/equipment ie save them from degrading their personal assets.

Any decrease in restrictions for domestic supply should be applauded, although they will not do it in a timely manor or even at all for the people but for the profit!

cheers fnq

[Little grey men]

Here's a pic of North Pine Dam on late Sunday afternoon. I usually fish from a bank which is now about six feet out from the edge of that grass in the water and about five feet down. It's filling slowly and it's raining as I type this. Lookin good. although that grass is bloody snaggy