1345.4 - SA Stats, Apr 2010  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/04/2010   
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WATER


RAINFALL

According to the Bureau of Meteorology's Seasonal Climate Summary for South Australia, Summer 2009-10 delivered temperatures well above average with variable rainfall across districts.

Summer rainfall totals across most of South Australia were generally near average, with the exception of the north east which had above average rainfall totals. Pastoral districts produced above average rainfall in December and particularly through February which resulted in a wetter than average summer season.

Agricultural districts further south remained near average, while the northern Eyre Peninsula and the Mount Lofty and Southern Flinders ranges had below average summer rainfall as a whole.

Rainfall totals in the pastoral areas were extremely variable ranging from 20mm to 100mm, with higher localised totals at some locations of over 150mm. Moomba Airport recorded South Australia's highest summer rainfall of 270.4mm, most of this occurring during February. This season represented Moomba's third wettest summer since records began in 1972.

Diagram: Rainfall

Source: 3-monthly rainfall anomalies for South Australia, Australian Bureau of Meteorology


RESERVOIR LEVELS

The total water storage in Adelaide's reservoirs at the end of March 2010 was 61% of capacity. This level is considerably higher than the 10 year average of around 51% for the same time of the year. With three months of the financial year remaining, SA Water estimates South Australia's reliance on water from the River Murray is already 84% lower than the previous financial year. Just 16 billion litres of river water have been used to top up reservoir levels compared with more than 103 billion in 2008-09.

TOTAL RESERVOIR STORAGE, As a percentage of capacity, Adelaide
Graph: TOTAL RESERVOIR STORAGE, As a percentage of capacity, Adelaide


Source: SA Water daily reservoir levels