River level up but Tararua council still wary about water supply

The Tamaki River at a low flow. The river peaked at nearly 14,000 litres per second during the weekend's rain. Photo / Supplied

The rain over the weekend was what Dannevirke had been waiting for, but it still may not have been enough to ease water restrictions.

Tararua District Council group manager of infrastructure Chris Chapman said a Horizons Regional Council weather station at Tamaki Reserve showed the area had just over 190mm of rainfall in the last seven days.

Most of that was over Waitangi weekend.

He said flows in the Tamaki River had increased significantly as well from less than 150 litres per second on Friday and Saturday to peaking at nearly 14,000 litres per second on Sunday.

The river was still in high flows as of Tuesday morning, but the water was very dirty.

"So we are still limited in terms of what we can take," Chapman said.

It was hoped that would settle over the coming days.

Dannevirke has been on level 4 water restrictions, meaning no hoses or sprinklers could be used, since early January.

Residents had been asked to conserve water as much as possible.

The weekend's rainfall helped, but the council was continuing to be proactive in monitoring and managing the town's water supply and demand, Chapman said.