Community water saving efforts praised

• Cairns residents praised for keeping weekend water use steady at ~82ML/day despite hot weather.
• Council encourages everyone to continue conserving water and aim for <75ML/day.
• 70% of public irrigation switched off as part of Council’s ongoing water-saving measures.

Cairns Regional Council has a simple message for our community when it comes to water usage: thank you for being responsible, and let’s keep it up.

Residents are being praised for their recent water-smart efforts, which have helped keep usage at sustainable levels during the recent period of hot weather, including the past weekend when usage is typically higher than week days.

Despite higher-than-average temperatures over the past weekend, water usage remained at sustainable levels of around 82ML per day.

Council CEO Ken Gouldthorp said the community’s response shows how collective effort can ease pressure on the system.

“We want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been mindful of their water use,” Mr Gouldthorp said.

“Your efforts are helping us manage demand at a time when every drop counts. Please keep it up - small actions by all of us are making a big difference.

“The heat is here and it’s not going away anytime soon. We need to keep usage as low as possible to ensure our reservoirs can meet demand while we work through ongoing challenges in the network.

“Despite the sustainable levels of water use over the weekend, we did see usage peak at 87ML on one day last week which is concerning. With hotter weather set to continue we’re asking everyone to keep it closer to our target of below 75ML per day.”

Council is leading by example by switching off irrigation in many public areas to further reduce consumption, with approximately 70% of the irrigation network now shut down.

“Residents may notice some areas of our city start to brown off, such as garden beds, small parks and centre islands along roads - especially if we don’t have much rain over coming weeks,” Mr Gouldthorp said.

“Council is doing our bit and we’re asking the community to do the same. Every resident and every business can play a part in helping to ease the pressure on our water network.”

Mr Gouldthorp reminded residents that permanent water conservation measures remain in place, including designated sprinkler days for odd and even-numbered properties.

Residents can track weekly water‑use trends and find answers to common questions on Council’s Cairns Water Supply update page: Cairns Water Supply | Have Your Say Cairns