Media Release

19 Jun 2008

Water restrictions eased

Water restrictions have been eased for Sydney, the Illawarra and the Blue Mountains.

The current level 3 restrictions will be eased to allow vehicle and house washing with a hose fitted with a trigger nozzle from this weekend.

Sydneysiders have saved more than 415 billion litres of water since restrictions were introduced in October 2003.

Recent rainfall has kept dam levels consistently above 65 per cent, they are now at 66.5 per cent.

Washing vehicles, boats, caravans, trucks, trailers and other vehicles and homes will now be permitted, but only with a trigger nozzle – the other level 3 restrictions will remain.

Easing the restrictions will have only a minor impact on Sydney’s overall water use.

Sydney Water estimates that the new measures will increase water consumption by less than a half of one per cent a year.

Sydney’s water consumption will still be at least 15 per cent less than the ten-year average and will remain at the lowest levels since the late 1960s.

Tests by Sydney Water found using a hose with a trigger nozzle instead of a regular hose saves water.

A trigger nozzle stops the water flow when the hose is not in use, saving around 20 per cent of water on an average car wash at home.

Sydney Water modeling estimates car washing uses the following:

	With a hose	With a hose using a trigger nozzle	With a bucket
Water use	150 litres per wash	120 litres per wash	100 litres per wash

The restriction that had read:
“No hosing of hard surfaces including vehicles at any time”

will be replaced with:
“Hosing of vehicles and homes is permitted only with a trigger nozzle”.


Level 3 restrictions with vehicle and home exemptions will apply from this weekend and are:

• Hand-held hosing of lawns and gardens and drip irrigation is allowed only on Wednesdays and Sundays before 10am and after 4pm;
  
  
• Hosing of vehicles at residential premises is permitted only with a trigger nozzle or high-pressure water cleaning equipment;
  
  
• Hosing residential building structures including windows, walls and gutters using a hose with a trigger nozzle or high-pressure water cleaning equipment;
  
  
• No hosing of hard surfaces such as paths or driveways;
  
  
• No other watering systems or sprinklers are to be used at any time;
  
  
• A permit from Sydney Water is required to fill new or renovated pools bigger than 10,000 litres;
  
  
• No hoses or taps to be left running unattended, except when filling pools or containers; and
  
  
• Fire hoses must only be used for fire fighting purposes – not for cleaning.

All other restrictions remain in place and long-term water saving rules will apply when restrictions are removed.

 

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