Melbourne Water Supplies Now Below 30% Of Capacity - Adelaide Now

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MELBOURNE'S water supplies have drained away to less than 30 per cent of capacity for the first time in decades. Our nine main reservoirs are now just 29.9 per cent full, the lowest total level since the Thomson Dam was completed in 1983.

It is only the second time dams have fallen below 30 per cent since May 29, 1968, when Victoria was recovering from the 1967-68 drought.

Melbourne is on stage 3a water restrictions, limiting people to manual watering on two mornings a week, but the Government has no plan to move to stage 4 restrictions, saying only that it will reassess the situation before August. A backlash over this week's $136 million Budget allocation for water projects -- $24 million less than last year -- has the State Government under pressure.

But Premier Steve Bracks said yesterday this was only the start: his Government would decide between four options for Melbourne's water future this year. These include a desalination plant, harvesting stormwater from the Yarra, piping water over the Great Divide from the Goulburn Murray irrigation district, and piping recycled water from the Eastern Treatment Plant at Carrum to Gippsland for use at Latrobe Valley power stations, thereby saving drinking water.

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http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21662200-911,00.html