WHILE much of East Gippsland has been under a deluge from an east coast low this week, in Ballarat July has been a bit dryer than usual but the city's water supply has still managed to climb back above 80 percent.
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Despite just over half of the annual rainfall hitting the ground in Ballarat over the past two months, the city's water supply sits at 81.3 per cent, around 10 per cent higher than at the same time last year.
It's the big reservoirs that are making the difference for the Central Highlands Water's catchments, with some near 100 per cent capacity, including at the city's biggest reservoir at Lal Lal.
Supply at Lal Lal Reservoir is sitting at 92 per cent while White Swan Reservoir is now at 78 per cent, up from just 60 per cent at the same time last year. It was at this stage in 2019 when Ballarat's water level climbed to levels not seen in a decade after extremely wet months of May and June.
This year, it hasn't been the case, with the heavy rainfall occurring in April and at the start of May, but overall, winter has been dryer than usual.
After the heavy rains last year, both Pincotts Reservoir and Cosgrove Reservoir sat at 100 per cent capacity, this year they sit comfortably at 92.9 per cent and 80.8 per cent respectively.
One water supply which has shown a marked drop is Gong Gong Reservoir which has lost more than half of the water it had last year. At this period last year, Gong Gong was at 90 per cent full, now it is just 43.4 per cent.
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Central Highlands Water was asked for an explanation as to what has seen this big reduction, but did not respond to questions before deadline.
CHW 15 water supply systems throughout the region which are supplied with water from a range of sources including reservoirs, waterways and groundwater.
While far from warm, July has been mostly consistent in its weather, averaging 10.6 degrees, slightly above the normal 10.2 degrees.
Despite rain falling in some form on 18 days, there has only been one significant downpour, which occurred on July 12 when 18.2mm fell.
All other falls have been around 1-2mm, meaning just over 41mm for the month with no rain on the horizon.
But while the rainfall has stayed low, temperatures have not really fluctuated to date with the top of 13.4 degrees on Sunday the warmest it has been to date.
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