Capacity at the Sydney desalination plant is nearly halving, but the water level in Sydney's reservoir is still falling faster than it was during the millennium drought. (picture of Sydney Herald Morning Herald)
According to the Sydney Herald Morning Post, the public recently appealed to the new state government to speed up the shift to water resources restrictions and slow down the decline in the water level of the Sydney Dam. Instead of gradually turning to the expansion of (Sydney Desalination Plant)., a Sydney desalination plant worth A $2.3 billion.
Sydney water, a sydney water company, said the volume of water storage was nearly halved in two years and that the water inflows reached the lowest since the 1940s.
The Sydney desalination plant is operating faster than planned, but the water level of the reservoir is still falling at about 0.4 percent a week and has fallen to 53.7 percent as of Saturday. Speaker of the Sydney desalination plant said the plant has a daily handling capacity of just under half of 250 million liters and is expected to operate at full speed by August.
David (Melinda Pavey), director of the new state water department, is expected to outline a series of water options to the new state cabinet on Monday.
One of the important issues may be whether the new state government should immediately impose a primary water limit, rather than waiting until the dam water level is below 50 percent before it is officially launched. The figure will also boost preliminary plans to double the capacity of Sydney's desalination plant to meet 30 percent of Sydney's water demand.
Water experts such as Strauss-Kahn (Stuart Khan) of (University of NSW) at the University of New South Wales say the general public response is, "Why haven't we imposed restrictions yet?"
Given the continuing drought, Director Pevy is likely to receive "more praise than criticism" for tightening water rules, Professor Strauss-Kahn said.
During the 10 years of idleness of the Sydney desalination plant, households in New State had to pay about A $90 a year, compared with an additional A $40 when the plant was in operation. He said the expansion of desalination plants would increase these costs.
According to the Metropolitan Water Plan 2017 (2017 Metropolitan Water Plan), level I water restrictions are mainly the enforcement of voluntary smart water rules, such as avoiding watering between 10:00 and 4 p.m.
But the plan says most community members will be satisfied if the primary water limit takes effect when the dam water level reaches 60 percent. If the water level drops to 45% instead of the planned 30%, the public is also willing to accept tertiary water restrictions, such as "restricting or avoiding outdoor water." (Zheng Peiyan)