Water restrictions have been lifted in the Douglas Shire, meaning residents can now water at any time, on any day, with any device.

Council introduced Level 2 Water Restrictions throughout the Douglas Shire on November 7, 2014, as water reserves reached a critical level.

Water and Wastewater Manager Wouter Van der Merwe thanked the community for largely adhering to the water restrictions.

“Since the implementation of Level 2 Water Restrictions, water consumption in Port Douglas and Mossman dropped by an average of 34 per cent,” Mr Van der Merwe said.

“This equates to a saving of about five megalitres, or five million litres, every day.

“This is a good outcome but there is still plenty of opportunity to be more conscious of how we treat this precious resource.

“Even with this reduction over the period of the water restrictions we were still consuming more than nine megalitres a day.

“The vast majority of this consumption was on activities such as watering gardens or hosing down your car or your boat, not essential activities such as bathing or wastewater requirements.

“The Douglas Shire’s consumption of water is well above the national average and if we can all just be a little bit more conscious of how we use our water then it will be better for everyone in the long run.”

“We wouldn’t have to have much of a dry spell to find ourselves in a position where we have to reintroduce water restrictions if we consume huge amounts.”