Supplies of water under pressure

The Far North District Council wants residents to start taking all practical steps to conserve water voluntarily as the prospect of compulsory restrictions looms.

Infrastructure and assets general manager David Penny said yesterday the majority of public water supply schemes were under pressure. The situation was expected to deteriorate rapidly unless there was significant rain during the next few weeks.

The council was appealing for voluntary savings to delay the need for compulsory measures.

"We have been lucky so far in that compulsory restrictions have only been applied to the Omapere and Opononi water supply scheme. But the reality is others are likely to follow fairly quickly if we are not able to achieve voluntary water savings of about 20 per cent across the district," he said.

"Only the relatively high water tables entering the drought period have helped us maintain normal water supplies."

Restrictions on the Omapere/Opononi water supply were yesterday raised from level 1 to level 2 status, 10 days after the preliminary restrictions were imposed.

Level 2 bans the use of hoses for any purpose, including spraying gardens, washing vehicles, the external cleaning of buildings, filling or topping up swimming pools, cleaning paved areas and commercial vehicle washing. Market gardens and nurseries can only water crops with council permission.

"We will apply for an increase in the allowable raw water take but the fact is the small streams which service the Omapere and Opononi scheme can only stand so much pressure," Mr Penny said.

"We have to get water use down from the current level of around 220 cu m a day to less than 180 cu m to see this drought through."

During the major drought in 2010, the council had managed to maintain at least a reduced water supply to the majority of public schemes but that had only been possible with the support and co-operation of the community.

"In particular, we are asking large-volume commercial users to see what they can do voluntarily to reduce consumption and ordinary household users must also play their part," Mr Penny said.

Water-saving tips were available on the council's website (www.fndc.govt.nz), and brochures were available at service centres.