Water restrictions
Changes to Water Restrictions - Move to Stage 3 Water Restrictions for Melbourne
On Tuesday 16 March 2010, the State Government of Victoria announced an easing of water restrictions for the Melbourne Metropolitan Area from Stage 3a to stage 3 water restrictions. Stage 3 provides additional flexibility for garden watering and is designed to better meet the needs of environmentally and socially sustainable practices such as vegetable gardening.
The main changes to the rules under the move from Stage 3a to Stage 3 are:
Council
Under change to water restrictions the following changes are of note:
- Three in four sports fields are now able to be irrigated.
- Councils can increase watering of gardens by 50%. This does not include grass areas but does include trees.
All irrigation programs will be in line with the management requirements stated within the Draft Water Management Plan for Open Space 2010. For further information on sites and trees that will be irrigated as a result of this announcement, please review council's Open Space Water Management page.
Under Stage 3 restrictions, lawns cannot be watered by Council unless exemptions have been granted. These City of Port Phillip sites have irrigation exemptions for Stage 3 restrictions:
- St Kilda Botanical Gardens, St Kilda
- St Kilda Town Hall Forecourt, St Kilda
- St Vincents Gardens, South Melbourne
- Gasworks Park, South Melbourne
- Cricket Ground, Port Melbourne
- Soccer Ground Port Melbourne
Exemptions have also been granted to irrigate the following sports grounds during stage 3a:
- Peanut Farm Oval - St Kilda
- Head Street Oval #1 - Elwood
- Woodruff Oval - Port Melbourne
Residents
- Garden watering will move to an odds and evens, date-based approach
- Even and no-numbered properties can water on even dates e.g. 2nd, 4th, 6th, etc
- Odd-numbered properties can water plants on odd dates e.g. 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc.
- Everyone may water on the 31st of the month - within the specified times.
- Households with someone over the age of 70, may water at the alternate time of 8-10am.
- Lawns must not be watered at any time with drinking water.
- Cars may not be washed at home with drinking water.
Manual dripper - between 6-8am
Automatic dripper - between midnight and 2am
The following requirements from Stage 3a continue to apply:
- No watering lawns at any time.
- Spray sprinkler systems and spray watering systems can no longer be used.
- Residential gardens can only be watered on specified watering days.
- Automatic dripper systems can only be used to water gardens - not lawns - between 12 midnight and 2am on specified watering days.*
- Manual dripper systems (the type turned on and off by hand); hand-held hoses fitted with trigger nozzles; buckets or watering cans may only be used for watering gardens - not lawns - between 6am - 8am on specified watering days.* There is no manual evening watering permitted.
- Cars may not be washed at home with drinking water. Washing or rinsing cars with a hose (even with trigger nozzle) or high-pressure water cleaning device is banned.
- Cars can be cleaned at a commercial car wash. A bucket, filled directly from a tap can only be used to clean windows, mirrors, lights and spot-remove corrosive substances from cars.
- New pools or spas cannot be filled.
- Specific requirements apply to existing pools and spas. See Stage 3 Water Restrictions for full details.
Note: A dripper system drips water onto plants on or near the root zone. It must use a fixed rate of flow which does not exceed nine litres per hour for every linear meter of watering system. Contact your local Water Saver Garden Centre, or South East Water for information about retrofitting a dripper system.
Target 155 will remain to encourage households to continue saving water.
Business, Commercial and Industry
- All watering times and vehicle washing restrictions as outlined for residents above must be followed by businesses and commercial enterprises. Car yards, car detailers and commercial car washes are excluded. For further information contact South East Water on 131 867.
- Under Stage 3 restrictions, businesses using 10 megalitres of water or more per year must complete a water conservation action plan (waterMAPs program), identifying ways that they can save water.
Greywater, rainwater and recycled water
Recycled water and greywater can be used to water at any time provided that it is not stored for longer than 24 hours and as long as EPA Victoria guidelines are adhered to. No restrictions apply to using rainwater collected in a storage tank for use in the garden - provided it is not supplemented by mains water supply. Breaches of water restrictions can incur penalties.
Remember - Existing Permanent Water Saving Rules still apply. These Stage 3 water restrictions are in addition to our current Permanent Water Saving Rules which have been enforced since 1 March 2005.
Ensure that you understand and adhere to the water restrictions. Stage 3 water restrictions must be followed and water patrols are out in force across Melbourne. If you breach the restrictions, you may have your water supply restricted and face fines. If you wish to report suspected breaches of water restrictions contact South East Water's water restrictions line on 131 867 or the State Government on 13WATER (139 2837).
In the face of climate change and as Melbourne continues to have record dry months, the City of Port Phillip urges all our residents and businesses to do everything you can to help protect and conserve our precious water.
For further information on changes to water restrictions please visit SouthEast Water.
For further information on council's approach to open space water management please go to Open Space Water Management - Creating Water Sensitive Cities.