Drought a boon for water suppliers

Whangarei's reservoir is only 75 per cent full, as shown by its gauge (inset, left). Andrew Venmore says this level is seen usually at the end of summer. Photo / Christine Cornege

Northland's hot, dry weather means a boom for water suppliers, who say this summer is the busiest they've had in five years.

During the last three months of 2009, Whangarei received only 30 per cent of its average rainfall and the main water reservoir, Whangarei District Dam, was at 75 per cent full - worrying because that was a level expected at the end of summer.

Maungatapere Transport is one of the water suppliers benefiting from the lack of rainfall. Manager Grant Morgan said demand hit a peak of 10 to 15 call-outs a week to fill rainwater tanks just before Christmas.

While December was usually busy, the peak usually did not occur until the end of summer, he said.

"It's the busiest we've been in five years, the whole east coast just hasn't seen any considerable rain."

Whangarei District Council trucked 50,000 litres to the 35-home settlement of Mangapai, just south of the city, this week.

Water services manager Andrew Venmore said the Tauraroa stream that feeds Mangapai had sluggish water flows of 5 litres a second, and the council wasn't permitted to use the stream when it fell below 5.5 litres a second.

At $400 to $500 per 10,000 litre run, trucking water into the settlement could turn into an expensive exercise if consistent rain did not fall in the area, Mr Venmore said.

While water restrictions were not in place yet, residents were being asked to be careful with consumption.

"We're just asking people to conserve as much as they can.

"We notice that at this time of year we hit a bit of a peak. People notice their gardens are drier and they're watering them more, but we actually need to come down to conserve the dam levels."

A complete fire ban in the region remains in place.