Water tankers ready to give Domain sportsfields good soaking

Auckland Domain sportsgrounds will get a drenching from a water tanker next week, with the Indian summer drying out parks.

For the first time, council contractor Recreational Services will need to bring in a tanker to keep the grounds in good condition.

"Usually the fields do get dry but it does not take that long for the rain to come again," said operations manager, Corrie Jamison.

Even if there were showers over the weekend, he would still need to give the grounds a good soak because of the low water table.

"We would need to get rain every day for a few days or it's not going to do anything."

The Domain, Auckland's largest park, has a total of 10 sports fields and Mr Jamison said it might take all day to water them.

Even the dozens of other parks round the region with permanent sprinkling systems will require extra irrigation.

Duncan Jones, of Hydro Solutions, contractor for the Waitakere City Council, said he had been irrigating the 22 fields he is responsible for twice as much as this time last year.

Normally he would be winding down the irrigation in April, but he has not been able to turn his watering systems off at all until this weekend.

"One of the problems is with the hot and dry weather the [fields'] top layers are drying out very quickly," he said.

"We've just got to keep irrigating. It's costing the council, but we've got the facilities, we must use them."

Auckland City and North Shore City have recorded higher water consumption for the past two months. Metrowater communications manager Lisa Finucan said water use had risen 7 per cent in Auckland and 10 per cent on the Shore.