{"id":244796,"date":"2019-09-23T17:06:17","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T07:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=244796"},"modified":"2020-07-16T16:26:49","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T06:26:49","slug":"summer-rains-key-for-dams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/09\/23\/summer-rains-key-for-dams\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Rains Key For Dams"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bjelke-Petersen Dam last month … water levels are now at 5.3 per cent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

September 23, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

If summer rains don’t occur, SunWater may be forced to cut South Burnett Regional Council’s “100% high priority” water allocation from Bjelke-Petersen and Boondooma dams.<\/p>\n

A Council spokesperson said SunWater was continuing to assess water storages in the region and would advise Council should allocations change.<\/p>\n

Bjelke-Petersen Dam is currently at 5.3 per cent capacity while Boondooma Dam is at 27.45 per cent.<\/p>\n

Graphs on the SunWater website show that if only minimal inflows occur, Bjelke-Petersen Dam will reach its\u00a0“dead storage” volume (ie. the level below which water cannot be released from the storage) by the start of next April.<\/p>\n

However, if\u00a0 average inflows happen, the dam could be almost a third full by the beginning of May.<\/p>\n

Boondooma Dam would reach its “dead storage” volume in September 2020.\u00a0 However, with average inflows it could be more than half full at the same date.<\/p>\n

If SunWater cuts Council’s water allocations, current water restrictions across the region would have to be tightened.<\/p>\n

However, for the present they will remain at Level 3.<\/p>\n

Level 3 restrictions:<\/strong><\/p>\n