Water ban in place for Te Puke area

FILE

A water use ban, effective immediately, is in place over the greater Te Puke area.

This is a complete ban on hand-held hosing and sprinklers due to increasing demand on Western Bay of Plenty District Council reservoirs from consumers in the Eastern Water Zone.

This ban also applies to all properties that irrigate crops.

Western Bay of Plenty Council Utilities Manager Kelvin Hill said the ban would be in place for several weeks.

"Given the current weather predictions of no or little rain, and unless conservation efforts improve considerably, we have no choice but put restrictions on the eastern zone."

The council is notifying properties in No 1 Road advising that water pressure reduction valves (PRV Units) would be put in place on their properties to help manage the network.

"Water levels in our reservoirs are absolutely critical and people simply do not appear to be heeding our pleas to conserve," Hill said.

"What people need to understand is that, while there is water in the ground, we have to be able to treat and pump that water into our reservoirs overnight in order to supply customers during the day.

"At the moment, due to the extremely high demand, we are not managing to get enough water in our reservoirs overnight to sustain the capacity to maintain our reservoir levels."

Hill said council staff had identified areas of the district where people weren't showing adequate levels of water conservation – and they were taking measures to change that.

Other zones in the Central and Western Zones (from Te Puna to Waihi Beach) continued to be on high alert to conserve, but restrictions were not yet in place.

"We appreciate that many of our residents are already doing their bit to conserve water," Hill said.

"Let's continue to do so – but with even more focus on how we use every drop."

For more information on how to conserve water click here.