Toowoomba to draw on GAB water supplies ...

Remember the Toowoomba City Council?

They said Toowoomba would run out of water back in December 2005.

Excerpt from the Chronicle:

We're down to bore water

26 June 2008

Cosumers dependent on the Toowoomba water supply may be drinking emergency Great Artesian Basin bore water from October.

The three water storage dams levels have slipped to 11.1 per cent, and are declining on average .1% a week.

It's not the lowest, but alarm bells are sounding at City Hall.

Dam levels were down to 10.8 % in February.

Water portfolio spokesman Cr Paul Antonio said, while awaiting State Government plans for future water supplies, be it the pipeline from Wivenhoe Dam or the coal seam gas wastewater from Chinchilla: "We are doing the best we can; we have a contingency plan in place".

"The bores are drilled with four or five bores planned in the bore field that's proved successful.
"We'll access those bores and they will provide 5000 megalitres of water a year as an emergency allocation," he said.

The GAB bores are planned to progressively come on line from October through to February.

Four or five bores are planned with two already drilled and cased.

Tenders are being called for the next three bores.

The 100-hour pump tests on the first two bores will be completed between the end of next month and early August.

Pumps are to be ordered after the pump test results are known then there's a 10-week wait for delivery.

"I'm very proud of the fact that this community is using a lot less water," Cr Antonio said.

Average consumption for last week was 24 megalitres a day.

The residential per capita consumption was 128 litres a person a day.

See - We're down to bore water.