NSW: Heavy rain a boon for Sydney catchments
01 Apr 2009 1:57 PM
SYDNEY, April 1 AAP - Heavy rain in the past 24 hours has brought relief for Sydney's dams, the NSW government says.
Sydney's Warragamba catchment received about one-sixth of its average April rainfall on the first day of the month, with 14mm falling in the 24 hours to 9am (AEDT) Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Upper Nepean and Woronora catchments had almost half their median monthly rainfall, recording falls of 41.6mm and 49.5mm, respectively.
"The rain is mainly along the eastern coast, which means the smaller, coastal catchments are receiving heavier falls," Water Minister Phil Costa said in a statement.
Dam levels would be measured on Thursday, Mr Costa said.
However, he warned a significant increase was unlikely following the dry summer months.
"We've had below average rainfalls over summer and through March," he said.
"The ground is dry, so a lot is being soaked up. What we need is consecutive days of rain to allow for flows to reach the dams."
Sydney's total storage levels were at 58.3 per cent, the lowest since November 2007, he said.
Warragamba Dam was currently at 55.5 per cent capacity.
"We would need to see at least five days of 35mm per day rainfall across the entire 16,000 square kilometres of drinking water catchments to see total storage rise to 70 per cent of capacity," Mr Costa said of the area managed by the Sydney Catchment Authority.
