IT APPEARS Tamworth residents have taken like ducks to water heeding the council's call for shorter showers.
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Tamworth Regional Council is expecting the city's main water supply, Chaffey Dam, to hit 15 per cent capacity by early to mid-December.
On Sunday, Chaffey Dam had fallen to 16.1 per cent capacity.
While this won't trigger any tighter restrictions, the council will keep the water conservation message at the forefront of people's minds.
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The council has been encouraging people to take more efficient showers while keeping personal water use to less than 150 litres.
But people are seemingly up for the challenge with the council's timer stocks running dry.
At this week's ordinary meeting, councillors will vote on buying another 5000 shower timers to distribute through the community.
The three-minute timers come at a cost of more than $8300.
Showers can be one of the biggest water guzzlers in the household.
An efficient shower head will use nine litres of water per minute or less.
Older, less efficient showers can use much more than this.
Under the council's 150-litre per day guideline, it recommends people use about 60 litres in the shower.
"Council has distributed close to 5000 shower timers to residents across the region, along with waterwise kits to accommodation providers," the report to council said.
"Given the ongoing success on the take up of shower timers by residents, council may like to consider the purchase of another 5000 units for distribution during level 5 water restrictions."
The council has also been encouraging primary school students to conduct water audits of their homes with the aim of making reductions where they can.
The class with the greatest cumulative savings will win an afternoon at the movies with drinks and snacks at Forum 6 cinemas.
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
