SPAWNED FROM A NAPKIN DOODLE IN 1986 The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 34 #31 • Wednesday, January 8, 2020 • www.echo.net.au
Water supply critically low
Soul Street and Falls bring in New Year
Paul Bibby
With up to 20,000 patrons attending the three-day Falls festival daily, police say they were ‘generally pleased with the behaviour of patrons.’ And for the first time, NSW Health provided drug amnesty bins at the festival entrance. A police statement said they recorded ‘50 drug detections and one drug supply offence, predominantly for MDMA.’ Cannabis, ketamine, cocaine and LSD were also detected they say. Meanwhile, an estimated 20,000 people celebrated the start of 2020 at Soul Street, on Jonson Street in Byron’s CBD. Pictured is Vera Blue, who kicked off New Years Eve at Falls. Photo Jeff Dawson
Festival tents headed for Cobargo ▶ p4
Byron Shire Council Notices ▶ p6
How good is it to lose democracy? ▶ p8
Average daily water consumption in Mullumbimby has not fallen at all despite the introduction of water restrictions, Byron Council says. Council’s director of infrastructure services and acting general manager Phil Holloway said the daily water use remained at around 270 litres of water per person per day, even though level four water restrictions have been in place for more than two weeks. The target for the region is 160 litres per person per day. ‘Since November [when water restrictions were introduced] the average water consumption per person in Mullumbimby hasn’t really diminished,’ Mr Holloway said. ‘The water supply into Lavertys Gap [Mullumbimby’s water supply] is roughly 0.5 megalitres a day, but water consumption in Mullumbimy is roughly one mega litre a day.’ ‘That’s obviously a pretty dire situation.’ Mr Holloway urged those in the community who were not limiting their water use to start doing so immediately. ‘We need to really get out there and educate the community about what we need to do, and to emphasise the importance of doing it,’ he said. ‘We need to start knocking on doors, perhaps doing a pop-up [stall] in town. ‘We need people to recognise that water is a precious resource.’
The community at the Byron A&I Estate ▶ p14
He said that Council had activated the Rous emergency water line – a pipe that connects to part of Mullumbimby from the main Rous County Council water supply. This was currently balancing out the usage in the town, but could not be guaranteed as a long- or even medium-term solution. ‘Rous County Council already has responsibility for providing supply to the rest of the Byron Shire along with Lismore, Ballina, and Evans Head,’ Mr Holloway said. ‘We can’t draw on their supply indefinitely. ‘The next step is to introduce level 5 restrictions. Obviously we’re not there yet, but if we don’t reduce our consumption and we don’t get any rain then that will become the option’.
Level 5 : supply limited Level 5 restrictions are emergency level restrictions, and can involve limiting supply to homes and businesses. Measures that locals can take to reduce water consumption include making sure your washing machine or dishwasher is full before use, no more than one short shower per day, limiting toilet flushes, turning off or fixing dripping taps, especially before going on holidays, and recycling water as much as possible. Mr Holloway said Council had not been cruising the streets looking for those breaching water restrictions, but was considering ▶ Continued on page 3
There’s plenty to do and see in our Hello Summer feature ▶ p18
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