Councillor Jess Jennings says he feels most residents are taking the situation seriously and abiding by water restrictions, but the Bathurst Gardeners Club president says he has seen some people ignoring them.

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Water restrictions have put dam in a stronger position: Jennings

Letter | Trying to work out these restrictions is water torture

I think the refusal to follow the restrictions is more widespread than they both assert.

The last straw came on the weekend when I noted a person had the hose running down the gutter so he could clean and shovel dirt out of it. Then there was the sprinkler that had overturned and been that way for some time before I alerted them. At least that person was watering on the correct day.

I traverse the streets of Bathurst most days for two hours at a time after 6pm, walking my dog. I see residents watering on incorrect days, sprinklers watering concrete footpaths and roadways, hidden micro sprinklers going – so on and so on.

Bathurst should have a level 4 restriction – not a combined level 4 and 5. Level 4 should add the restrictions of no sprinklers, no car washing, no swimming pool top-ups or refills, no garden features top-ups or refills plus the other restrictions in place on level 3.

This is the sort of level we should now be on if we are serious about dam levels. We are currently giving priorities to pool owners who can top up for three hours every day.

Finally, the way the water restrictions were advised (by junk mail and media) was wrong. A lot of houses don't accept junk mail. A lot of people don’t read junk mail.

Advice should have been delivered by Australia Post to all addresses, with real estate agents required to advise their tenants.

Rangers should patrol. They would only need to book one person and the message would soon get home.

It will be drastic for the environment if we get to the stage where people's trees and gardens die because we don’t have enough water to keep them alive.