It's only November, but Tauranga City Council is already sending out a clear message to residents to conserve water.
"It's up to communities to respond positively to the way they use water from our streams," said Peter Bahrs from Water Services.
"We monitor a seven-day rolling average of water demands and we monitor where that is in relation to the treatment plant capability. When we get to a certain point, which in our book is 50,000 cubic metres in a day, when we're over that line that's when it starts becoming critical for us from a treatment point of view. When we've reached that line for five days or more and there's no prospect of rain, that's when we implement water restrictions,"
The recent spell of hot, dry weather and no rain predicted for the rest of the month, meant that Tauranga reached that threshold and water restrictions became inevitable. But Bahrs says a solution to water shortages is coming.
"We've got two treatment plants which service roughly 140,000 people. We've recognised that with a high growing city we're running low on capacity so we've got a third treatment scheme in process. But currently we're having to manage with the existing capacity."