WHILE residents have largely responded well to the introduction of extreme water restrictions, around 40 households have been issued reminders from Bathurst Regional Council.
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Extreme water restrictions came into effect on October 14 after close to 12 months on level three (high) restrictions.
One of the biggest changes is that people can no longer water their lawns.
While gardens can still be watered, this can only be done on Sundays and Wednesdays for 30 minutes between 6pm and 9pm.
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Mayor Bobby Bourke acknowledged that, in the first four weeks, there have been instances of community members reporting water restrictions breaches to council.
"Council has sent reminders to around 40 households to remind them that water restrictions are in place," he said.
He said conserving water during the drought had to be a community-wide effort and if people are seen doing the wrong thing council should be made aware.
"If you're abusing the system, you're going to get a warning," he said.
"You've got to cut it out, we've all got to be in this boat together and worry about our water."
The good news is that there is concrete evidence Bathurst is saving water.
Cr Bourke said that water use is in line with winter water consumption rates, at around 158 litres per person per day.
Changes to usage are helping to extend the life of Bathurst's water supply, which at one point was expected to run out in July, 2020.
"Further modelling needs to be done to assess the impact of water restrictions for irrigators, but at this stage with water restrictions in place it is October 2020," Cr Bourke said.
Council's directer of Engineering Services recently said that water restrictions would not be relaxed any time soon, saying it would take "several hundreds of millimetres of rain".
Council is continuing to pursue projects that will increase Bathurst's water security.
In the meantime, people need to keep obeying water restrictions.
Reminders and warnings will be issued to people found doing the wrong thing. Those who continue to ignore the restrictions may be issued a fine of up to $2200.
