Level 0 Water Conservation Measures On Now
(10 January 2023)
Douglas Shire Council has removed Level 1 Water Restrictions.
The flow in Rex Creek, which supplies water to Mossman and Port Douglas, has significantly increased after recent rainfall over the Christmas and New Year period.
With the catchment now more saturated, Douglas Shire will move to Level 0 Conservation Measures to continue regulating the days consumers can use water, but with much less restriction on use.
Under Level 0, the maximum allowable watering time is removed, and overnight watering between 6pm and 8am on alternate days continues to be encouraged.
- EVEN-numbered houses or no prescribed street number: Wed, Fri, Sun
- ODD-numbered houses: Tue, Thu, Sat
Irrigation systems are not permitted on Mondays.
More information on Council’s Water Restrictions is available, here.
Learn how to save water around the home by visiting the Queensland Government website for more information.
Rex Creek Intake Level
The Rex Creek intake provides water for the Mossman – Port Douglas water scheme through the Mossman water treatment plant. It is Councils’ largest water scheme, serving about 7,000 people.
As the water level drops at the intake, typically during the drier months of the year, Council progressively introduces water conservation measures to encourage water users to reduce their usage.
The following graph shows the fortnightly intake levels from 2019.
Along with the 7,000 residents, Mossman – Port Douglas water supply scheme services the 500,000 overnight visitors along with the 300,000 day trippers who visit Port Douglas each year. Hundreds of tourism dependant hotels, resorts and short-term holiday accommodation providers rely on the scheme to service them.
The water extraction rate from Rex Creek is regulated by the Queensland Government in order to maintain environmental flows in the creek downstream of the intake. These reduced extraction rates align with the water conservation measures typically introduced in the dry season. These measures tend to coincide with the peak tourism season when demand is typically higher. In recent years, the dry season has extended into December, which with corresponding low flows in the creek, presents an increased challenge in balancing water demand with the ability to produce enough water.
Therefore the adoption of water saving measures by all residents of the Douglas Shire is so important.
Annual Rainfall Data
Rainfall in the wet tropics is concentrated from November to May each year. The rainfall averages shown are for
Port Douglas, which has the longest record, but data from Daintree, Whyanbeel and Mossman indicates a very similar pattern.
