Norsewood: Tararua District Council puts water restrictions in place

Tararua District Council continues to monitor water use after imposing water restrictions earlier than normal. Photo / File

Tararua District Council is continuing to monitor water consumption across the district and has not had to impose any further restrictions this week.

Last week the council had to tighten restrictions in Norsewood after recording a steady increase in water use over the holidays.

Norsewood moved to alternate evening water restrictions allowing outdoor water use between 7pm and 9pm with odd numbered houses able to water on odd numbered days and even numbered houses on even numbered days.

The council will continue to monitor water use daily and has urged Norsewood residents to conserve as much water as possible.

Without a significant drop in water use, the council will need to increase restrictions to a total outdoor ban to ensure that there is a continuous supply of water over summer.

The council will ensure residents are notified of the change in restriction by delivering posters throughout the Norsewood township, notifying schools and early childcare centres, and by sharing the information on the council website and Facebook.

Residents are encouraged to check for leaks and fix them (or report to council if not on your property), check out the council website for basic water saving tips (or search the web for more in-depth tips) and to consider installing water harvesting systems to capture rainwater for outdoor use.

District wide alternate day restrictions were implemented on December 1 following a difficult last summer when rural communities dealt with drought conditions and urban users experienced increased water restrictions compared to previous years.

The council says these conditions are potentially the "new normal" so staff have been reviewing how it needs to manage its finite water resources.

As part of that review it implemented the first level of water restrictions, alternate day use, earlier than usual in order to reduce the risk of more severe restrictions later in summer.
The council says while it is tempting to see periods of rain as meaning an easing of restrictions, this is not so.

While rain can allow the council to resume its water take it is usually only for short periods of time, sometimes only hours. Often the rivers become turbid (dirty) meaning water cannot be taken and processed until it settles down and the effect of the rain has often passed by then.

Periods of rain over summer should be seen as opportunities to fill home storage tanks and to not have to water gardens.

The council, like any other significant water user, must obtain a consent to take water from a variety of sources like rivers or bores.

The consent process is managed by Horizons Regional Council. Each consent provides the limits of water the council can draw given prevailing river flows.

During dry periods over summer some of the consents reduce the amount of water that can be taken, in some cases to zero.

The reductions in allowable water take during dry periods is the reason the council has invested in water storage (reservoirs and impounded supplies) in recent years.