Media Release
Release date: Monday 27 February

Recent rain step in the right direction

Rainfall over the last week has been a welcome sign, however, it’s not quite enough to lift level two water restrictions according to Council water utilities manager, Neville West.

“The rain we received did a great job watering pasture and gardens, but it’s still too little to make much difference to the water supply as most of the rain fell over the city rather than river and dam catchments,” said Mr West.

The city received about 65mm of rain last weekend, and a few light showers during the week, despite this, river levels have quickly dropped back, and soil moisture levels are still very low.

Council has been running the Waipaoa Treatment Plant for the last few weeks to help cope with the dropping water levels at the Waingake Dam, and this is likely to continue throughout the current water restriction level.

We are running a 50/50 blend of Waipaoa and Waingake supplies to manage the hardness of the water, some people may be experiencing a chalky residue on dishes or laundry.

“Although there are some showers forecast over the 10 day forecast, we still have to be mindful of our water use. Major processing industries start up in the next week, and temperatures are expected to rise again,” says Mr West

“We’re grateful to the community for the hard work they’re doing to conserve water. Water demand shows a decreasing trend in use since the level 2 restrictions came into effect on 3 Feb, coupled with recent rain events.

We will continue to review restrictions regularly as forecasts change.”

ENDS

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