Tauranga's water restrictions remain despite heavy rainfall and flooding

Heavy rain has caused flash flooding around the city, particularly in Pemberton Cres, but water restrictions remain. Photo/John Borren

Water restrictions are still in place for Tauranga despite the downpour of rain experienced in the last 24 hours.

According to MetService, 17mm of rain fell in Tauranga between 5pm and 11pm yesterday.

However, Tauranga's city waters manager Steve Burton said the rain did not top up the amount of drinking water that was in the city's reservoirs.

"It just means that for a short time, people stop using as much water as they usually would during the hot weather, particularly trying to keep their gardens green."

Burton said there were not weeks worth of water stored in reservoirs, therefore, restrictions still applied.

"Whatever water we can provide is being used on a continuous basis. There is enough for everyone but people have been using a lot more water than normal. That's why we've imposed a sprinkler ban," he said.

"I'd like to thank all water users in the city for their efforts to conserve water and for observing the current water restrictions. The rain has given us (and our gardens) some temporary relief, but with months of hot, dry weather on the way it's important we keep up the good work."