By Jeremy Sollars
Leslie Dam owner Sunwater has begun releasing water for downstream irrigators, with the dam having this week reached close to 19 per cent of full capacity.
As of this afternoon – Sunday 23 February – water is flowing from the release valve near the base of the dam into Sandy Creek, for the first time since July 2017.
It is unclear when the release commenced but on Friday a spokesman issued the following statement when asked by the Free Times if any release from the dam was imminent –
“Due to recent rainfall, Sunwater today (Friday) announced medium priority customers for the Upper Condamine Water Supply Scheme will have access to a portion (20%) of their allocation for the first time since July 2017,” the spokesman said.
“After a prolonged period of dry conditions, Sunwater is very pleased that Leslie Dam has received inflows following the recent rain, increasing the dam’s capacity to 18.7% of capacity.
“This allocation will be available for customers as long as the dam’s supply level remains above 15,000 megalitres.
“As at 2pm on 21 February, Leslie Dam capacity was at 19,837 megalitres.
“High priority allocations (typically reserved for urban communities, permanent cropping and industry) for the scheme remain at 100%.
“Sunwater will work with customers to ensure water releases to allocation owners can be coordinated to maximise delivery efficiency.
“Today’s announcement is great news for the Warwick community and our customers, and we are hopeful for more inflows in the coming weeks and months.”
The current dam release follows a decision by Southern Downs councillors at their February meeting last week to increase the ‘per person per day’ town water use target from 80 to 100 litres.
