Coliban Water’s catchment storages are in a good position going into spring despite below average winter rainfall.
Lauriston, Malmsbury and Upper Coliban reservoirs, near Kyneton, are 85 per cent full with a combined volume of around 60,000 megalitres.
Manager Regional Liveability Steve Healy said this winter’s total rainfall total of 226 millimetres was 19 millimetres less than the long-term average.
“Although our winter rainfall was below our long-term average it was 28 per cent more than we received last winter,” said Mr Healy.
“Our winter inflow total of 15,600 megalitres was 40 per cent less than our long-term average but our total storage volume has still increased by 19 per cent over the three month period.
“Upper Coliban Reservoir, the largest of our three storages, is at 100 per cent capacity and has been spilling for the last two weeks. Lauriston Reservoir is currently 92 per cent full.
“The winter-spring period is when we traditionally receive 85-90 per cent of our annual inflow into our storages before we go into our peak summer demand period.
“The Bureau of Meteorology’s seasonal outlook for Victoria is for a drier than average spring,” said Mr Healy.
Coliban Water has nine separate water supply systems across the region, each with different supply source and level of water security which are all reliant on rainfall over winter and spring.
The Coliban catchment reservoirs are the only source of supply for the Coliban southern system, which supplies Castlemaine and Kyneton.
“Our catchment storages were last full in October 2017 and we have been carefully monitoring and managing our resources,” said Mr Healy.
“Permanent Water Saving Rules will remain in place across our region and everything we do to conserve water helps our overall water security.”
Permanent Water Saving Rules are part of the Victorian Government’s Target Your Water Use suite of products, services and solutions for regional Victorians on how to use water more wisely.
Coliban Water announced in July 2018 that it will open its 2018/19 rural season with 100 per cent allocation.
For the latest rainfall, inflows and volumes see our Reservoir Levels page and for monthly information on our nine water supply systems see our Water Summaries page.
Last updated on 08 Jul 2019