COLIBAN Water put out an urgent call for residents in Inglewood and Bridgewater to cut water use as temperatures spiked at the weekend.
Water was also carted to the two towns for the first time to Coliban’s treatment plant ahead of the weekend.
Inglewood residents Ken Ursula Knott were surprised when they started receiving text messages.
“We expect there will be power blackouts during a storm and they take time to repair,” the couple said.
“But to be told we’re short of water .... it left us gobsmacked.”
Coliban did not release details of usage in the two towns over the past month when tourist numbers traditionally jump and property owners spend time at their holiday homes.
However, Coliban Water general manager operations Julian Bull said: “The capacity for the Bridgewater Water Treatment Plant is 1.5 megalitres per day.
“This summer, poor source water made the job of treating water at the Bridgewater water treatment plant more challenging.” he said. “Our plant continued to operate, but did take longer to treat drinking water for the Bridgewater and Inglewood communities, due to this poor quality source water. 
“Asking the community to limit water usage, and our decision to cart water to the plant, ensured the community had a continued drinking water supply and that our water storage levels for these towns were maintained.”
Mr Bull said Coliban might ask the community to limit water use “from time to time due to plant maintenance or poor source water quality”. 
“We do this to ensure the water treatment plant is able to continue the supply of safe drinking water, while dealing with these issues, particularly during hot weather like we experienced on the weekend,” he said.
“Efforts by the community to limit water use, combined with demand decreasing as the weather cooled after the weekend, meant the plant was able to catch up with demand and replenish our water storages.”
Mr Bull did not say how much water usage had decreased after the weekend appeal.