LETTER TO EDITOR: Newsport reader queries Douglas Shire Mayor's honesty and accuracy about water consumption statement

WATER MATTERS

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A Newsport reader has questioned the details in a statement by Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr. Picture: Supplied

Dear Editor,

I am confounded by Mayor Michael Kerr's statement in an ABC News report yesterday January 23, 2024, titled: Authorities switch off Port Douglas water supply after heavy rain washes debris into treatment plant.

If people are only using water for cooking, cleaning, washing, we wouldn’t  have gone through nearly 20 million litres yesterday.

20 million litres is an awful lot of water and how was that figure calculated? By whom? 

The 2021 Census describes the population of Port Douglas as 3,650 people.

The 2018 report on Douglas Shire by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy titled ‘ Mossman and Port Douglas regional water supply security assessment’ states that:

 …the average daily residential water use by the Mossman-Port Douglas communities was approximately 500 litres per day.

If you do the sums 3,650 people consuming, on average, 500 litres per day adds up to a total of 1.825 million litres of water per day. Still a long way off 20 million litres!

What about the overnight stay (of) visitors’ consumption of water? 

During last Saturday (January 20) the day to which (Douglas Shire mayor Michael Kerr has referred) could visitors have actually consumed the balance of 18.175 million litres of water? That is a lot of water!..

Has anybody got an answer? For, at this point, all I really want is a hot shower...!

Regards,

Hilary Kuhn

Port Douglas

 

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