February 19, 2014
South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said today Kingaroy residents will be asked to consider “voluntary” water restrictions next week.
The mayor told southburnett.com.au he planned to talk to his fellow councillors early next week and, if they agreed, he would be issuing a media statement asking Kingaroy residents to conserve water.
“We will be discussing voluntary restrictions on sprinklers,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
“We have plenty of water, but there are two reasons why we are thinking of doing this.
“Firstly, it is costing us about $1600 a day to supply water from Boondooma Dam. We have not budgeted for this cost.
“And secondly, farmers in our region are in the midst of a drought.
“Understandably they get disheartened if they see sprinklers going and water just running down the gutters when they drive into town.
“We are all in the region together and we should be using water more wisely at the moment.”
The South Burnett Regional Council is being forced to purchase water from Boondooma Dam because of quality issues with the supply from Gordonbrook Dam.
Mayor Kratzmann said Council staff were still investigating whether the Boondooma water could be mixed into the Gordonbrook supply.
He said council staff were also assessing the cost of the Boondooma water against the savings being made because less chlorine had to be added to the supply.
- Related article: Councillor Floats Dam Drainage Idea
