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Council says "Watch The Drops"

Monday 20 December 2010, 2:35PM

By Central Otago District Council

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OTAGO

Council replaces the odd and even day water restrictions with a new approach to manage summer-water-use.

Coloured water drops will be published in The News each week. The colour of the drop reflects the water demand in each area, during that past week, and signals what people need to do to keep water use down over the next week.

Green, orange and red water drops will be used, like traffic signals, to ask residents to think, act or stop. The colour of the drop indicates the pressure our water supply is under to meet the demand. A green drop signals that residents are managing their water use well, and reminds residents to continue to be sensible about their water use. A yellow drop signals that demand is high and residents need to use less water. A red drop signals that restrictions are necessary because our water supply is running to near capacity.

Council’s Water Services Manager, Russell Bond, said “Summer irrigation really puts pressure on the water supply system. Council’s focus this summer is more about managing water use outside our homes. Our message this year is ‘Be Sensible’ with your water use - don’t use it if you don’t need to.”

Residents’ feedback suggests that the odd and even day restrictions did not always encourage sensible water use. Some even suggested that it encouraged them to water on ‘their day’ whether their garden needed it or not.

Mr Bond said “The coloured drop approach gives residents more choice about how they manage their water use”. The drops indicate to residents when they need to use less water. Council will only put restrictions in place if the community is not able to lower water use themselves.

Water use alerts will also be published on Council’s website and announced daily on local radio stations between 7am and 9am after the morning news.