Dams up as rain continues

The South West’s drinking water stocks are in a much stronger position than this time last year despite a drier than usual winter for parts of the region.

Drinking water dams across the South West are about 84 per cent full, 31.7 per cent higher than at the end of August last year.

More rain is forecast for the coming week but Water Corporation South West regional manager Scott Moorhead said it was difficult to predict what kind of impact it would have on dam levels.

“Run-off into dams varies depending on the amount and frequency of rainfall and the density of the catchment,” he said.

“Catchments that have experienced a significant amount of continuous rainfall and remained damp will continue to see good run-off over the next few weeks.

“Those that have experienced a break in rainfall and where the soil has dried out will receive less.

“With limited rainfall events in the dam regions over the past week we would expect only a slight increase in dam levels, if any at all.”

Mr Moorhead said the outlook for the drier summer months was positive.

“Harris, Millstream and Manjimup Dams are in a better position than the same time last year and have adequate storage levels to see us through to next winter, especially with the connection of the Nannup bore to the Manjimup Dam, but we would like to see more inflows into these dams,” he said.

“Considering our current levels and the promising spring rainfall forecast, we should be in a good position by the end of spring and a much better position than we were at the start of summer last year.”