5 April 2009
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The combined capacity of Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine dams has reached 50%.
The combined dam level increased by another 1% in the last 24 hours and hit the 50% mark just before 6am this morning. This was helped by the further rain Saturday night and releases from Somerset reaching Wivenhoe Dam.
The last time combined levels were at 50% was in November 2004, just over four years and four months ago.
Recent consistent rainfall, particularly in the Somerset and North Pine catchments has triggered significant inflows into both dams over the weekend. Seqwater has also been managing the release of water from Somerset downstream into Wivenhoe Dam at a rate varying between 12 and 24 thousand megalitres a day since the end of last week.
The combined dam level is currently 50.1% - Wivenhoe 36.9%, Somerset 91.2% and North Pine 49.6% - and is expected to continue to increase in the coming days as inflows and further predicted rainfall deliver positive news for the dams.
Seqwater Operations Manager Rob Drury said while it was fantastic for the storages to reach the milestone mark, the drought was still not over.
“While it’s great to see our dams hit the halfway mark for the first time since November 2004, the reality is our main water storages for greater Brisbane are still effectively half empty.
Seqwater is the region’s bulk water provider responsible for catchment, storage and treatment services.
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