1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,119 Speaker 1: Now an interesting bit of news that is floating around 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: and I got told about this yesterday. The Darwen River 3 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: Dam is apparently at ninety eight percent. It's the highest 4 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 1: since twenty eighteen. Now joining me on the line to 5 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: tell us a little bit more about this is Eric Boyle, 6 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: the senior manager of Service Delivery Water Services with Power 7 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: and Water. Good morning to you, Eric, Good morning key. 8 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 1: How are you very well? Thank you? How are you? 9 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 2: I'm well, thank you, Eric. 10 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: Ninety eight percent at the Darwen River Dam. Last time 11 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: this happened twenty eighteen. 12 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 2: Yees, so pretty exciting. We usually have vets in the 13 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 2: office to see who's going to hit the dates, so 14 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:40,239 Speaker 2: I don't know who's going to be closest this year run, 15 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:41,840 Speaker 2: but it's going to be pretty pretty soon. 16 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:43,520 Speaker 1: When do you reckon it's going to happen? 17 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 2: We're predicting probably the next six or seven days, just 18 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 2: depends on what the ren does mid to late next week, 19 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 2: so yeah, round about that time. 20 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: And Eric, what does it mean once once the Darwen 21 00:00:57,480 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: River Dam reaches its full capacity? 22 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 2: What does main So, just to the side of the 23 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 2: main dam wall itself, there's a there's a thing called 24 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:08,960 Speaker 2: a spillway. And it's the height of that is slightly 25 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 2: lower than the level of the main dam. So what 26 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:14,959 Speaker 2: happens is as the dam fills up and we call 27 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 2: it one hundred percent when it hits that spill way 28 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 2: because it then overflows over that spillway and runs down 29 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 2: down river. 30 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: And obviously it's you know, it's a good thing. It 31 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 1: means we've got plenty of water. I know that you 32 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,479 Speaker 1: know in recent years and at different times, there has 33 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: been the concern that you know that the dam hasn't 34 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: been as full as we'd like it to be. 35 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, we obviously am really excited when we 36 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:41,640 Speaker 2: do hit this one hundred percent because it kind of 37 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 2: gives us a reset. But we've got models that go 38 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 2: back fifty years and we understand that we can have 39 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 2: several dry years, which we've just we've just had. Two 40 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 2: years ago we were sitting at sixty seven percent and 41 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 2: last year we were sitting eighty four, so we've kind 42 00:01:57,480 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 2: of crept back up again. But if we were to 43 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 2: have that those extended dry seasons, the dam were deplete 44 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 2: and then we'd be struggling to figure out how we're 45 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:09,639 Speaker 2: going to keep up with current demand. 46 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 1: And it's always an interesting one. You know, whenever we 47 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:15,520 Speaker 1: talk about about there not being enough water when we 48 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: live in a place like Darwin and you see so 49 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: much rain, a lot of people find that hard to 50 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 1: sort of believe. But you know, it's something you and 51 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: I have even spoken about over the years. 52 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 2: Before. 53 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 1: You said though, that the refilling is really a bit 54 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,800 Speaker 1: of a reset. Does it mean that it's something that 55 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: you then have a couple of years up your sleeve, 56 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: or you know, what kind of impact does it have 57 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: longer term? 58 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:40,959 Speaker 2: So I guess there's a few things in the Akkad. 59 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:43,520 Speaker 2: I mean we as you know, we've got our Living 60 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:45,959 Speaker 2: Water Smake program on at the moment where we're trying 61 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 2: to encourage people to be a little bit more thoughtful 62 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 2: about how they use water, so that obviously impacts how 63 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 2: much we use and that therefore gives us the ability 64 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 2: to extend that storage level out so that when we 65 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:00,839 Speaker 2: get to this time next year, i've been careful through 66 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 2: the for the rest of the wet season and through 67 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:05,959 Speaker 2: the dry season, then perhaps we won't have as much 68 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 2: catch up to do when the wet season comes, because, 69 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 2: as you know, with the rain here, we get these 70 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 2: huge downpours, but down of a catchment's very small, so 71 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 2: we need to make sure. We need to hope that 72 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 2: that rain falls in the catchment so we get that 73 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 2: water to flow back into the dam, and that doesn't 74 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 2: always happen. 75 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,399 Speaker 1: Yeah, and I suppose then there is water our backups. 76 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: We have got the other one of the is it 77 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: Mountain Dam that's the backup for us. 78 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 2: So we've got Mountain Dam that's programmed to come back 79 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 2: online at some time in the future. I'm quite sure 80 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 2: of the timing on that. And then of course we've 81 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 2: got the Arrows project, which is probably a number of 82 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 2: years away, but that will be another source that we'll 83 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 2: be able to utilize in the future. But we've also 84 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 2: got our bow fields out in Howard East which give 85 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 2: us about twenty to twenty five percent water as well. 86 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 2: But obviously that water we've got to be extra careful 87 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 2: with because that's a limited supply. Similarly with down of 88 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 2: us limited as well. But that is a mean source. 89 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: And Eric, how are territories going at the moment when 90 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: it comes to that water usage. Is that campaign having 91 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: a bit of an impact? 92 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 2: I think it is yet. We published some numbers late 93 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 2: last year. I can't remember off the top of my head, 94 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 2: which is what they are. I need to write them 95 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,799 Speaker 2: down next time. But yeah, there was some promising results 96 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 2: from that to sure that we're heading in the right direction. 97 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:24,480 Speaker 2: But I think there's still a long way to go. 98 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,359 Speaker 2: I mean I I walk around, I drive around, and 99 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 2: I still see sprinkles on in the middle of the 100 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 2: when it's raining, and I just scratch my head and say, well, 101 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 2: you know, how can we still do this anyway? Those 102 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 2: are things that we're trying to manage. 103 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's always good to catch up with you, Eric. 104 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 1: We appreciate your time, and let's see who gets it right. 105 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: What day the Darwin River Dam is going to reach 106 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: that one hundred percent. 107 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, Thanks for giving me the opportunity. Thank you.