Pāpāmoa orchardist Rob Thode said dry conditions were becoming the norm. Photo / George Novak
Primary industry workers and councils are scrambling to adapt as the region braces for its fourth dry season in a row.
Some farmers are trucking in water to keep crops growing, while an orchardist says he had to turn on irrigation systems as early as September as his kiwifruit vines were showing signs of the impact of seasonal drought conditions.
And a meteorologist warns that weather events like this will only become "more common and more extreme" in coming decades.
Water restrictions were put in place in Tauranga last month banning sprinklers and hard-surface hosing as demand for water in the city spiked.
Tauranga residents were using an average of 47,433 million litres of water a day. At its peak, residents used 52,727 million litres.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council put a new water management system in place as water levels in streams across the region rapidly dropped.
Level one water restrictions were implemented due to a combination of low flow levels in the streams that supply Tauranga's water and the increasing high water demand the city was experiencing, Tauranga City Council's acting general manager of infrastructure Stephen Burton said.
A higher level of restriction would be implemented if water demand remained above 50 million litres a day for five days in a row or supply constraints arose.
Pāpāmoa orchardist Rob Thode said it had been a "very patchy" season, with some parts of the region getting more rainfall than others.
Thode had run continuous irrigation at his orchard since September as he said "incredibly dry conditions" were becoming the norm.
"I can't understand how anyone doesn't believe in climate change. We are hitting drought conditions almost every year."
He said he knew of growers who lost a "big chunk" of their crops last year and some orchardists didn't even make enough money to cover growing costs.
The pressure was "absolutely immense" on the industry, with various Government policies coming in, like more sick leave and higher wages, at a time when they were battling tough conditions and struggling to get crops overseas, he said.
"It's a perfect storm and a serious concern."
The region entered 2021 with lingering drought conditions from long-term rainfall deficits dating back to early 2019.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council water shortage event manager Steve Pickles said drought conditions in the region were becoming more prevalent year on year.
This was a challenge for the council, as he said that they had never had to consider annual drought conditions and how to handle them so frequently until the past few years.
In response, the council had created a dry weather water management plan that allowed it to supersede consent conditions and limit the amount of water take available for councils, orchardists and farmers to protect the region's waterways.
There were three alert levels created for when the region was facing a dry weather event.
Level one was when water availability was normal but stream and soil moisture was dropping and there was low rainfall.
Level two was when a water shortage was impending as a result of reduced stream flows and groundwater levels and level three was a full water shortage event with drought conditions and risk to waterway health.
Rotorua was sitting at level two, while the rest of the Bay of Plenty remained in level one.
However, Pickles said the Bay of Plenty as a whole was heading towards level two.
Rotorua changed levels after council staff noticed stream levels rapidly dropping, such as the Ngongotahā Stream, which was the lowest it had been in 50 years.
"There is definitely potential for further restrictions. It all depends on rainfall."
Federated Farmers Bay of Plenty provincial president Darryl Jensen said dry conditions were affecting a number of farmers in the Western Bay of Plenty.
As a result of the water take hierarchy, irrigation systems and crops were quite far down the list when it came to water allocation, he said, and for some, trucking water in was the only option to ensure water levels were adequate.
Water troubles came as a "flow-on effect" from last year's dry summer, he said.
"It's going to take a lot for water resources to recover."
Farmers were now bracing for their "toughest month" of February when temperatures rose and rain often dried up, he said.
Niwa meteorologist Chris Brandolino said areas in Tauranga and Western Bay were especially facing very dry conditions and the region would likely only get drier in the next 10 days.
He said many areas were still recovering from last year's "exceptionally" dry summer.
As a result of climate change, the general trend was that weather events like this would become "more common and more extreme" in the coming decades, he said.
This was already showing with prolonged periods of minimal to no rainfall, followed by extreme downpours resulting in flooding events, he said.
Some dry parts of the country were set to see a touch of respite as it entered February as a "pattern shift" was forecast and some heavy rain could be expected in the first week to 10 days, he said.
The Tauranga City Council had received 31 water restriction complaints less than a month into restrictions.
Complaints came from all over the city and no particular area was worse than others, a council spokeswoman said.
The council took a "tiered approach" in water restriction enforcement and started with the delivery of a water restriction flyer that outlined the current level of restrictions and what people can and can't do.
"If the property owner doesn't respond to reminders and continues to breach water restriction, the end result could be a fine of up to $20,000 due to a breach of the bylaw."
The council had not needed to take this type of action against anyone to date, she said.
MetService meteorologist Tahlia Crabtree said "warm and breezy" summer weather was expected in the Bay this week but temperatures would drop a little by the weekend.
Temperatures were looking to get up to 29C and 30C in both Tauranga and Rotorua at some points of the week.
"Although by no means record-breaking, it'll definitely be warm."
The weather will shift Thursday night as cool southeasterlies usher in cloud to the region for the weekend.
"There will be a "noticeable shift" from the summery feel from earlier in the week," she said.
Tauranga's hottest day on record was 33.6C in February last year, while Rotorua's was 30.2C in the same month.
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