For those of you that read todays Advertiser, I thought I would offer Coliban Water’s perspective as we were not asked to comment.
Bendigo’s Water consumption has increased from 175 litres per person in the 2008 calendar year to 202 litres per person in 2009.
It is important to remember that during this time Bendigo moved from Stage 4 (General Exemption) to Stage 3.
For the purpose of our forecasting, we take use historical usage rates to estimate volume required for the 12 month ahead.
In recent times we have added a reduction factor of about 10% to the volume because people are being more water wise and using less water than they have historically.
We estimate that up to 70% of households have substantially changed there behavior and have invested in things like mulch, tanks and grey water systems.
In Castlemaine, whilst we eased restrictions from Stage 4 (General Exemption) to Stage 3 in December last year, the usage rate is still tracking at Stage 4GE levels.
This is to be commended.
gavin