18 February 2019

Renwick’s conservation-minded residents have made significant water savings in the last 10 days, achieving a reduction in peak demand of 25%.

Stephen Rooney, Council’s Operations and Maintenance Engineer says that while this is a good result, continued vigilance is necessary.

“The aquifer level at the water supply bores continues to drop. We have reduced the output from the pumps twice now and we’ll have to do that again today to protect the pumps from suffering any damage.

“The reductions have so far reduced the flow into the reservoirs from 60 litres per second to 46 litres per second. Today’s reduction will take it down further.

“The reduced volume available from the pumps continues to meet demand and provide sufficient water for firefighting. But, as the aquifer continues to fall and there are further cutbacks at the pumps, it’s likely we will need additional savings,” he says.

“Residents are strongly encouraged to continue saving water, especially on hot evenings,” Mr Rooney says.

The current weather forecast has some rain predicted for the end of this week. This may alleviate the situation for a short while, but further rain will be needed to bring the aquifer back to a good operational level.

Last week the Council announced that construction of a new reservoir would begin shortly in Renwick, part of a $10m package of improvements for the town’s water supply over the next three years.

Further information: https://www.marlborough.govt.nz/services/utilities/water-supplies/renwick-water-supply-and-reticulation

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