When Joyce Curry arrived in Mount Isa a little over 54 years ago, she never imagined she would be fighting for better watering conditions for the elderly in the community.
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The 85-year-old who has lived in the same home since 1963 would like to see the water restrictions changed to a more convenient time of day for the safety and wellbeing of local elders such as they have in Townsville.
Townville residents could only water from 6-8pm under level 3 restrictions but in 2016 their council split its water restriction hours between morning (6-7am) and evening (6-7pm) to provide residents with more convenient times for watering.
Now Ms Curry wants Mount Isa City Council to take a leaf out of the Townsville’s book and change the hours of watering.
“To be out watering the lawn with a sprinkler system from 8-10pm is unsafe, I live across the road from a park and it’s dark by 8pm, it can be quite unnerving,” Ms Curry said.
Colleen McGuinness, Ms Curry’s third daughter, said her mum wanted to leave a legacy behind for the elderly in our community so they don’t have to water their gardens in darkness.
“I’m a registered nurse and if an incident happened due to holding a hose and mobility issues, it would require hospitalisation and orthopedic intervention which would result in a considerable cost to the state government,” Ms McGuinness said.
Ms McGuinness has taken the cause of changing the sprinkler times to earlier in the evening to Mount Isa City Council on her mum’s behalf.
“I have contacted the Council a number of times since the end of October 2017 by email and phone,” she said.
Ms McGuinness was told on November 29, the issue missed the agenda on November 22.
“They said this sometimes happens and that it would only be ‘bumped’ once, they assured me it would go to the next meeting which was December 13 and I would probably hear from them on the 15th with a decision,” she said.
Ms McGuinness rang the Mount Isa City Council on December 20 and was told that her call would be passed on to a staff member for follow up.
“That day I received a call from the Director of Utilities for Mount Isa City Council and asked him to email me the outcome,” she said
“I still have not heard anything.”
A Mount Isa City Council spokesperson said the matter has been moved for decision to the next council meeting on February 28.
