Residents asked to watch water use

A string of hot days this week has seen water demand remain high, putting pressure on the city’s water supply. Christchurch City Council is asking residents to take it easy when watering gardens and lawns on hot days to help control the load on the water supply system.

City Water and Waste Unit Manager Mark Christison says “Over the past week Christchurch residents have gone through over 200,000 cubic metres of water a day, that’s almost 90 Olympic swimming pools every day.

“We’d like to thank Christchurch residents for their efforts so far and overall people have been really sensible about their water use this summer. We just need to be mindful that we have not fully restored the pre-earthquake water supply infrastructure and we need to think about the amount of water we use on our gardens and lawns.”

Last year Christchurch had water shortages and restrictions because of damaged water pipes. So far the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team has replaced 20 kilometres of freshwater piping, enough to stretch from Cathedral Square to Kaiapoi.

Three new water reservoirs have been built in Huntsbury Hill and Victoria Park, while New Brighton’s new fresh water station in Rawhiti Domain is now pumping water to residents from three new wells. A large amount of work has been completed by the Council’s well drilling contractors.

“We’d like to ask people to be aware of how much water they are using and adopt simple measures to lower water use.”

People can find out more information on water saving tips on the Christchurch City Council website.