CANBERRA will be spared tougher water restrictions this summer if dam levels and water consumption remain on target, Actew Corporation managing director Mark Sullivan predicts.
Total dam capacity in the territory is at 45.5 per cent, slightly down from 45.8 per cent per cent last month and up from 40.6 per cent this time last year.
The Cotter Dam experienced the biggest drop from this time last year with Actew explaining this was due to water being released for fish studies to be conducted.
Mr Sullivan said moderate rainfall over the past weeks had resulted in some inflows into Canberra's reservoirs but not enough to ''significantly change our dam levels''.
Canberra has recorded falls of 22.2mm so far this month and 21.8mm in June.
Mr Sullivan said Canberrans had generally been conservative so far this winter with ACT and Queanbeyan using a combined average of 99 megalitres of water each day, slightly up on the target of 97 megalitres. It was also an improvement on autumn when the ACT used on average the same amount of water as it did last summer or 129 megalitres a day.
This was 17 million litres, above the daily autumn target of 112 megalitres for water consumption under Stage 3 restrictions.
Winter was the ideal time for Canberrans to conserve water with not as much demand for outdoor irrigation which was Canberra's biggest water use activity.
''We've yet again had some very challenging months this year with about half the expected rainfall received in autumn and June but the weather conditions right now are ideal for low water usage,'' Mr Sullivan said.
''Winter is the season when we use the least amount of water ... so this is a good time to focus on water saving indoors.''
Despite relatively healthy dam levels, Mr Sullivan said Stage 3 restrictions which allow outside watering at certain times would remain in place.
Stage 4 restrictions which ban the use of all potable water outside have never been implemented in the territory.
Projects were underway to secure water storages into the future including enlarging the Cotter Dam and the Murrumbidgee to Googong water transfer.
Through the projects, the capacity of the Cotter Dam would increase from 4 gigalitres to around 78 gigalitres, a 20-fold increase.
The water transfer would see water pumped from the Murrumbidgee River and transferred through a pipeline to Googong Reservoir.
Construction on the projects is expected to begin in 2009 with completion expected around 2011.