June 18th, 2025Drought conditions cause for concern
Stage 2 water restrictions will come into force from Tuesday, July 1 in Daylesford, Hepburn and Hepburn Springs.
Central Highlands Water managing director Jeff Haydon said the initial lower-level restrictions were being introduced to raise awareness and alert the community for the need to continue its focus on remaining water efficient.
“We’ll continue to closely monitor our water storages, the community usage patterns, and weather forecasts. Our goal is to lift restrictions as soon as conditions allow, but if dry weather and soil conditions persist, further restrictions may be necessary,” Mr Haydon said.
Daylesford has just experienced its driest summer-autumn period since 1991 making this a significant dry period. This has resulted in storages falling to approximately 30 per cent. At the same time last year, storage levels were at 64 per cent. Hepburn Shire has now been declared to be in drought.
Historically, water storage levels in the Daylesford and Hepburn region are particularly sensitive to long dry spells due to the size of the catchment and volume of the storages, especially as demand increases during summer and early autumn months. Positively, it has been shown the storages can fill up quickly with good rainfall levels.
“The extended dry conditions have placed real pressure on our water storages. We thank residents, visitors and the community for their ongoing efforts in limiting their water use,” Mr Haydon said.
“By acting now, we can together preserve existing local water supplies and ensure storages can meet community needs until storage levels recover and the current major supply system augmentation works are completed.”
To secure the region’s future water needs for the next 50-plus years, CHW is investing in more than $25 million in water infrastructure upgrades.
This includes the construction of a 17-kilometre underground raw water pipeline from Blampied to the Daylesford Water Treatment Plant, connecting to the Goldfields Superpipe.
Upgrades to the Daylesford Water Treatment Plant are also progressing, with design and construction now underway.
The works are set for completion by mid-2026.
Free water
Under the Water Act 1989 a person has the right to take water, free of charge, for their domestic and stock use from a waterway or bore which they have access to by a public road or public reserve or if they occupy the land on which the water flows or occurs, or in the case of a waterway if they occupy land next to it and the bed and banks of the waterway have remained the property of the Crown.
In relation to water, domestic and stock use means use for household purposes, watering of animals kept as pets, watering of cattle or other stock, irrigation of a kitchen garden and watering an area not exceeding 1.2 hectares for fire prevention purposes with water from a spring or soak or water from a dam.
A kitchen garden is one used solely in connection with a dwelling and has no produce for sale.
Pipeline link: www.chw.net.au/community/community-investment/projects/securing-daylesford-water-supply
Annual Water Outlook link: www.chw.net.au/community/future-water-planning/annual-water-outlook
Water saving tips link: www.chw.net.au/education-sustainability/saving-water-at-home-and-work
Words & image: Donna Kelly
