Some suburbs of Sydney are being asked to save water as the latest wild weather event affects drinking water supply.
Although one of Sydney’s main water sources, the Warragamba Dam, spilled at a record rate in recent days, Sydney Water has asked some suburbs to retain their water use.
Sydney Water said heavy rains and flooding, which have flooded parts of the city, have dragged “large volumes of leaves, dirt and other debris into the catchment of raw water”.
Floods in Shanes Park, Sydney. (Dean Sewell)
“This has posed significant challenges for our Orchard Hills water filtration plant,” the supplier said.
“We ask residents in this catchment area to reduce their water use while our filtration systems work harder than usual to filter and clean dirty water to make it safe.”
More than 30 suburbs in western Sydney have received an alert to monitor their water use.
Which suburbs are affected?
- Caddens
- Jamisontown
- Oxley Park
- Cambridge Gardens and Cambridge Park
- Jordan Springs
- Penrith and South Penrith
- Kingswood and Kingswood Park
- Turó de la Pedrera
- Castlereagh
- Regentville
- Meadows of Claremont
- Lemongrove
- Crossing ropes
- Colyton
- Leonay
- Cranebrook
- Llandilo
- Dunheved
- Londonderry
- St Marys and North St Marys
- Emu Heights
- Mt Pleasant
- Werrington, Werrington County and Werrington Downs
- Emu Plans
- Erskine Park
- Glenmore Park
- Orchard Hills
To save water you must:
- Avoid spilling the roadway or other hard surfaces
- Take shorter showers
- Use the half cistern in the toilet
- Avoid watering the garden
- Avoid washing the car
- Reduce the use of washing machines and dishwashers (only use one with a full load)
People paddle down a flooded street in Windsor, just outside Sydney. (AP)
Can water still be drunk?
Sydney Water said water can still be drunk, but the system’s ability to produce drinking water is slower than normal.
In order to get it back to speed, Sydney Water needs to clean the filtration plants to free them of waste.
“All of our teams are working overtime due to the very high levels of slime and debris entering our system, which ultimately delays our ability to clean our water supply and provide drinking water to our customers.” said Sydney Water CEO Bernie Sheridan.
The Warragamba Dam overflows during the Sydney floods. (9 News)
Sheridan added that the warning to conserve water now is to make sure that when they start cleaning up the floods there is an “adequate supply of drinking water.”
Parts of the NSW Hunter region are submerged as flooding moves north