RESIDENTS have been told to cut back on water usage after the Mount Isa Water Board warned the clean water filtration system could not keep up with demand.
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Mount Isa City Council allowed an extra hour of watering with sprinklers last month after rain lifted the capacity of Lake Moondarra to more than 80 per cent and filled the back-up supply at Lake Julius.
But the change to watering times and hot and dry weather in the latter part of January caused the council’s water demand to overload the leased treatment plant.
Mount Isa City Council yesterday received a letter from the water board requesting urgent consideration of additional measures to be implemented immediately to manage demand.
The letter said the quality of available raw water had continued to deteriorate because of “large amounts of decaying plant matter” from recent heavy rain.
“There is no way to augment the treatment capacity to radically increase supply during February which is forecast to be a dry month,” Mount Isa Water Board chairwoman Rowena McNally wrote. “I regretfully request the council’s urgent consideration of what measures could be immediately implemented to manage demand.”
Mayor Tony McGrady and council chief executive Emilio Cianetti spoke with Ms McNally and agreed it was crucial that consumption did not exceed the production capacity of the filtration system.
“The city must continue to maintain a water-preservation program, not because of a lack of water supply but because the current leased treatment plant cannot keep up with demand,” Cr McGrady said.
“In 2014, the Mount Isa Water Board passed on $3.2 million in costs to the council for the treatment of blue-green algae found in the water system.
“The filtration was necessary to ensure the water was fit for human consumption.”
Cr McGrady said a special council meeting would be held to discuss the issue of water restrictions if consumption didn’t decrease.
Last month, the council amended water restrictions to include an additional hour a day for watering with sprinklers from 6am to 7am.
“It is our hope that residents will be water wise and not water unnecessarily,” Cr McGrady said.
Mount Isa is currently on level 3 water restrictions, which allow sprinkler use from 6am to 7am and 8pm to 10pm on alternate days, and hand-held hoses and watering buckets from 6pm to 8pm on alternate days.
