Hope for the Drought in Queensland, Australia

Queensland Australia has been experiencing very serious drought conditions for some time now. The last four years have become progressively worse due to effects from El Nino. Due to this, effective November 1st, 2006 the state of Queensland was issued with Level 4 water restrictions. The restrictions applied to all residential houses and businesses, and industries. The aim of these water restrictions are to:

Lower water usage to 140 litres per person per day

To identify any water waste

Use water saving appliances

Encourage people to follow the restrictions set in placeResidents have been asked to lower their shower times to a maximum of four minutes in an effort to conserve water, and many house hold appliances now state what their water saving conservation is through a star system. A rebate system has also been introduced for those households saving a considerable amount of water. However, despite the level 4 water restrictions, and some rainfall in Australia's recent winter months, it was expected that without more heavy rain Brisbane and some South-East Queensland regions would be issued with Level 6 water restrictions by October. Level 6 water restrictions could include a complete ban on watering outdoors.

It seems though that someone heard Queensland's cry for water. A storm moved in over the Queensland region on Sunday August 19th and has continued over the week. However, despite constant rainfall it was last night the 23rd of August when the rain really began to fall. Experts say it is one of the strongest rainfalls since 2004 with some regions seeing more rain overnight than they had seen in an entire year. Some records saw a rainfall of 713mm in just a 24 hour period, and these records are now being called a freak event.

However, heavy rainfall doesn't always mean help for the drought. The rain needs to reach the states dams for this to have the desired effect. Luckily, the dams did receive water, again the largest amount since the year of 2004. The rain reaching the dams was significant enough to ward off a Level 6 water restriction until at least November or December, and perhaps even until the New Year, depending on water conservation. There is more rain expected overnight and at least until tomorrow morning, but levels are expected to be much lighter.

Although this is definitely a welcome relief for the drought it is important that people continue doing their part to conserve water, and adhere to the current Level 4 water restrictions. Queensland is still officially in a drought, and people need to continue doing their part to help the situation.

For now though, help has arrived and we can only hope that this continues to be the case.

References:

http://www.qwc.qld.gov.au/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=41

http://www.qwc.qld.gov.au/Water+restrictions

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22217730-3102,00.html

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2007/08/24/1187462487176.html