Water Smart Holiday Checklist

In Darwin, we need to be careful about our water use all year round – even in the wet.

While it may rain a lot in the wet season, only a small percentage of this water actually falls in the Darwin River Dam and surrounding catchment area. And around two thirds of the annual drop in Dam levels is due to evaporation. We never know how much rain we are going to get from year to year and our increasing population over the years has meant increases in our water use. It might surprise you to know we currently use almost twice as much water as other cities with similar climates and we currently use more water than can be captured and supplied in the long term.

Everyone needs to play their part to be water smart. You can help this wet!  If you are going away:

• Reduce your irrigation schedule and let nature do the watering!

• Ask a neighbour or house sitter to turn off your irrigation when it rains.

• If you’re only going away for a week, consider if your plants will survive and turn off your irrigation or just schedule for once that week.