Orange residents will have a choice of when they use their one hour a week's watering, following a decision at last night's council meeting.
Under Level 5 water restrictions, which began in October last year, Orange residents have been limited to watering their gardens for an hour between 6 pm and 7pm on Sunday evenings.
WATERING: Residents will have more flexibility about when to do their hour's watering on Sundays.
Last night's council meeting decided to begin a one month trial of letting residents choose when to use their hour on Sunday morning or Sunday evenings. The trial will begin immediately.
Orange Mayor Cr Reg Kidd believes the trial is worth exploring.
"Orange residents have been brilliant in the way they've embraced water restrictions," Cr Reg Kidd said. "It's their commitment to using town water responsibly that will let Orange get through this drought. It's their efforts that will push back the day when we might have to go to Level 6."
"I've heard feed-back from people such as shift workers who simply aren't at home on Sundays between six and seven. This more flexible approach will give them some more options."
Under the trial, residents will continue to have a one hour watering period when they can water their gardens.
That one hour watering period can happen between :
- 6am and 8am on Sunday evenings, or
- 6pm and 8pm on Sunday mornings.
That one-hour watering period includes :
- Using a hand-held trigger hose for a maximum of 30 minutes
- Using buckets or watering cans
- Using drip irrigation systems (soaker hoses, sprinklers and micro-sprays are not permitted).
Other Level 5 restrictions continue unchanged, including :
- No watering lawns
- No washing hard surfaces
- No watering new turf
- No topping up swimming pools or water features.
