Media Release

Release date: Wednesday 24 February

Water shortage on Te Arai River

Council has issued a Water Shortage Direction to water users on the Te Arai River.

River levels have fallen below the minimum flow limit as set out in the new freshwater plan.

“Unfortunately due to the drier than normal summer, we’ve reached that level on the Te Arai River,” says shared services science manager Lois Easton.

The flow at Pykes Weir was manually gauged today and was 57 litres per second.

The Proposed Gisborne Regional Freshwater Plan that was notified on October 2015, has a low flow limit of 60 litres per second at Pykes Weir.

“The Te Arai River has some of the most important ecological values of any river in the wider Poverty Bay area,” says Ms Easton.

“The Freshwater Plan provides a minimum flow limit to ensure native fish are able to continue to live within the river.”

“We’ve been working with the small number of water users at Manutuke. They’ve been very practical and willing to work with us to reduce their water demand over the past month.

The water shortage direction means those using water to irrigate crops must restrict their water usage to minimum survival requirements for the next 14 days.

The notice means they’re required to stop taking water unless they’re using it for stock drinking water, or if they have permanent crops they can only use a maximum of 42% of the total cubic meterage allowed in their resource consent.

They’re also required to provide water meter readings to council each week.

“We may have to stop all water takes if the river levels continue to drop.”

There are showers forecast this weekend but it’s likely it won’t be enough rainfall to increase the Te Arai to a sustainable level.

River levels in other parts of the region remain above minimum flows.

Council encourages all water users and the community to be careful and efficient with our water resources.

Ends

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