David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

On 23 May this year the member for McMillan asked me a question about external water features in the grounds of Parliament House. The external water features were turned off as one of the measures to meet stage 3 water restrictions which were applied in December 2006 and required a reduction of 35 per cent in total water use at Parliament House. While water restrictions beyond stage 1 remain in force in the ACT, the water features should not be operated. At this stage the ACT water authority is giving consideration to moving from stage 3 to stage 4 water restrictions in July. Stage 4 water restrictions would be likely to continue for some time unless there is very good winter and spring rain this year. The water authority has indicated that combined storage levels in the ACT’s dams of about 50 per cent would be necessary before water restrictions could be reduced to stage 1. Combined storage levels are now at 31 per cent.

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