jayr

29.6mm for "Brisbane". Given the summer quarter was the driest in the last 100 years we're going to need a lot more than that.

I haven't mown the lawn in 4 weeks and it still doen't need it yet, depsite the recent light rain.

MrsDagboy

Yep, same here, we havent mown for weeks now. I know its nice to think of all the really lovely sunny days etc, but I dont think most people who come from the UK understand how essential it is that we get rain, especially when its expected, because of the topography, the weather & the way this continent is put together. Most people dont look past whether their grass is a bit brown or whether their picnic will be rained out on the weekend. But it is a hell of alot more serious than that.

Very worrying, especially with the global warming thing & the hole in the ozone layer. :scared:

I just looked up last month as well - the average for March should be around 140mm, we had 12, February's should have been 160-170mm & we had 34mm, Jan had 91 instead of 150mm :scared: .

No wonder it was the driest for 100 years (& alot less humid than normal too).

ABCDiamond

I suppose it is just light rain, but it seems to be all the time, maybe my immagination

I'll have to go for a drive down to the dam to see what its like soon, I must admit I haven't been past it for a while now, but it was full the last time I looked

jayr

Here' some recent info on dam levels which preceded April's 30mm rainfall:

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.a...5E3102,00.html

jayr

This site, SEQ Water, has current dam levels:

http://www.seqwater.com.au/content/s...me=NoticeLink1

The attached chart shows capcity levels over the past 2 years. Looking at Feb/March 2004, there is a large increase in capcity to mid 60%s. Levels by Feb 05 are in mid 40%, lower than at any other point in the last two years.

Notably Somerset Dam has dropped down a lot more. However, this dam is used to feed Wivenhoe dam. If anything, the drop in Somerset levels suggest it has been used to maintain Wivenhoe in the mid 40%s, rather than a lower level which it would otherwise be without the feed.

MrsDagboy

Somerset is only at 31% capacity :scared: :scared: :scared: .

Didnt know it was that bad actually, it's worse than I thought.

I notice Redlands isnt mentioned in the areas facing water restrictions because of the low levels, I wouldnt have thought that Redlands was completely self-reliant for water, especially since places like Pine shire & Gold coast have massive dams like North Pine & Hinze dams to supplement their supply. As far as I know, Redlands only has the Leslie Harrison dam & it certainly hasnt has very much more rain than the rest of SE Qld in the last 5 years & its not very big! .

Or did they just forget about Redlands cos its not very important?

(Edit : just had a look & they also get some water supply from North Stradbroke Island, still not sure how they would avoid water restrictions)

ABCDiamond

From what the "old" locals tell me, Stradbroke has enough underground water for us in the Redlands, for a LONG time
One of them told me we only have have these sprinkler restrictions, so that we aren't too different from everyone else. Not sure how true this is though.

MrsDagboy

Great, I'll be down later to connect my hose to your garden tap so I can fill up my dam & water my garden .

JackTheLad

We heard something similar from the real estate agents as well when we were viewing properties in the area. Still doesn't necessarily make the story true, but hey I believe it...

Mrs JTL

jayr

Redland Shire Council pumps 8,250 megalitres of groundwater and 12,775 megalitres of surface water per year to from Stradbroke Island to the mainland. It also pumps 1,450 megalitres of groundwater for use on the island.
Stradbroke (ex Consolidated Rutile Limited and Unimin) use about 47,000 megalitres of groundwater and 31,000 megalitres of surface water per year in their mining operations. Most of this water is recycled, as only small
volumes are lost as evaporation. The sustainable yield has been estimate to be about 90,000 megalitres per year. The groundwater system has not
suffered any long term effects from the recent ʺworst droughtʺ. The Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (NRM&E) has done a groundwater model for the whole island, and has a groundwater monitoring
network on the island. This needs improvement, but does give much of the information required. There are no threats at present to the groundwater resource. There are knowledge gaps in the details of the bedrock in some areas, many areas that need monitoring bores, and more investigations to be done into the recharge mechanism and salt water intrusion. The islandʹs water resources are managed by the Department.

ABCDiamond

I was looking for that info, but couldn't find it. What website is it at ?


Redlands uses 11.3Ml per day from the Harrison Dam info at:
and, by the looks of the above, about 57Ml per day from Stradbroke.

jayr

http://www.nrmseq.com/downloads/200406/WaterPaper.pdf

ABCDiamond

Just read in todays paper that 40.5mm has fallen in Cleveland so far this month to 11th. And just emptied about 20mm of water out of the guinea pigs feeding bowl today after our earlier shower (must put it under cover next time )

MrsDagboy

We also got another couple of showers this morning, but still not a drop in our dam. And considering ours is fed by run off from the road, its not good. The problem is that its been very gentle rain spread over a week or more - great for the garden (our grass is finally green again! ) but not so great for surface run off & dam filling.

Lets hope that the areas that feed the dams got a little bit more than us & that it was heavier.