The recent rain has eased the stress on the Shoalhaven water supply, for the time being. The whole of the Shoalhaven catchment has received at least 50mm of rain in the past week, which has significantly increased the flow into Shoalhaven’s primary water supply storage, Tallowa Dam.
The rainfall has resulted in Shoalhaven City Council delaying the imposition of water restrictions, which were predicted to be in force from the end of September, before the recent event.
Shoalhaven Water Acting Director, Robert Horner said, “the rain experienced from 16th to 18 September extended from Kangaroo Valley, through Nerriga down to Braidwood, with all areas receiving 50mm plus”.
“This has resulted in the flow into Tallowa Dam increasing from a low of 47 megalitres per day on 15 September to a peak in excess of 1,500 megalitres per day on 19 September, which has, in turn, raised the water level in the Dam by nearly one metre”. Mr Horner said.
Shoalhaven Water has recommenced pumping from the Shoalhaven River at Burrier to top up its off-stream storage dam at Bamarang. “We recommenced pumping to Bamarang Dam on 17th September, which currently sits at around 86% of capacity. We’re expecting Bamarang to be at 100% capacity in around 2 weeks” Mr Horner said.
