Drought Not Over – tighten up on water savings

The drought is not over, Whau Valley Dam remains less than half full and Whangarei residents are urged to increase their water saving measures, not to ease up.

The drought is not over, Whau Valley Dam remains less than half full and Whangarei residents are urged to increase their water saving measures, not to ease up.

Whangarei District Council water services manager Andrew Venmore welcomed yesterday’s cloud bursts that saw 46.5mm of rain fall in the Whau Valley Catchment, but said it made little difference to the dam level because much of the water was absorbed straight into the dry ground.

"The rain enabled us to start taking some water from the Hatea River today, but this is likely to be very short lived, because the river level will quickly drop over the next couple of days."

Mr Venmore said Whangarei had received less than half of the usual rainfall for the month and no rain was forecast for the next seven days.

"Things are still serious and water conservation should remain a priority for all consumers.

"I hope yesterday’s rain will have provided enough relief for people’s gardens that there will be little watering over the next week, and our water use for the week will fall even lower.

"The response to water restrictions from members of the public, including businesses, has been very positive and we urge people to keep tightening up on their water consumption and find new ways to save water.

"We really need to get water consumption down to below 17,000m3 a day and we are steadily heading in that direction."