As the summer heat begins to bite, NPDC is urging residents to save water to avoid outdoor water bans.

In Ōākura, high water use is draining the town’s storage reservoir and its level dropped to 65% on Sunday (3 February) when it is normally about 80% full. Ōākura’s second water bore isn’t available due to what is possibly Kaikoura earthquake damage, with a technical solution of possibly drilling a new bore some time away.

Meanwhile, low flows in Ōkato’s Mangatete Stream are nearly at the point where a ban on all outdoor water use will be introduced. Recent rainfall has not been enough to ease the situation and residents are encouraged to conserve water.

“If residents in Ōākura really cut back on how much water they use, we might be able to delay having to ban all outdoor water use while we cross our fingers for heavy rain. For example, residents in Ōākura used 33% more water than the town’s average daily demand on Sunday (3 February) whereas residents on the New Plymouth water supply, used just 6% more than its daily average,” says NPDC Chief Operating Officer Kelvin Wright.

Reservoirs must hold 50% of their water in reserve for firefighting purposes and high demand makes this difficult to achieve.

Tips on how to save water and become a Wai Warrior include:

• Don’t use sprinklers

• Don’t leave hoses/irrigation units unattended

• Please keep to the odds and evens letterbox/date system for using hand-held hoses.

For more tips visit: newplymouthnz.com/WaterRestrictions

Over the next decade, NPDC is investing an extra $44 million to upgrade its water network.

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