Melbourne’s driest decade reinforces the importance of Target 155

The fireworks that rang in the New Year also marked the end of the driest decade ever recorded in Melbourne.

Water flowing into Melbourne’s dams in the past decade was the lowest on record, according to Melbourne Water figures released by Water Minister Tim Holding last week, highlighting the need for all Victorians to continue to target 155.

“Water levels in our major catchments have fallen over the past decade, highlighting the need to diversify the state’s water infrastructure to avoid relying solely on our dams,” Mr Holding said.

“Storage levels were almost full in the 1990s but barely rose above 60 per cent in the past decade and were as low as 25 per cent in mid-2009.”

However, while storage levels dropped in the ‘noughties’, overall water use across the decade fell, despite strong population growth.

Water use fell from 4,785 billion litres in the 1990s to 4,307 billion litres in the 2000s. Since Target 155 began in November 2008, Melburnians have saved 20.6 billion litres of water.

Mr Holding said the efforts of all Melburnians to save water had been critical to seeing Victoria through a period of adjustment as the State Government builds Australia’s largest desalination plant and upgrades irrigation networks to save up to 425 billion litres of water a year.

“Victorians have put in a major effort to reduce their water consumption and are to be congratulated, but we still need to keep saving water,” Mr Holding said.

For more information on saving water in Melbourne, visit www.target155.vic.gov.au