Recent rain and a forecast of more to come next week has meant Tasman District will have no water restrictions on all management zones (other than consent specific ones) in the days leading up to Christmas.

Staff are set to review the situation on Monday, with any restrictions that are required coming into effect the following week.

“The region has benefited from sporadic periods of rain with some short heavy bursts earlier this week. This has provided some increases to soil moisture as well as small boosts to most of our rivers,” Dry Weather Task Force Convenor Kim Drummond said.

“While there are several areas that will require ongoing attention in the coming days - particularly Dovedale, Motupiko and the Moutere Deep Groundwater zone - there is currently no need to implement zone-based water restrictions.”

Rainfall amounts varied across the district, with sites at the Lee and Buller receiving 30mm and 28mm respectively on Monday.

In terms of river flows, the Wairoa at Irvines rose to 9000 litres per second (l/s) and is now just above 5000 l/s. This means no restrictions are required for dam-unaffiliated permit holders as the unmodified flow trigger of 2750 l/s has not been reached yet.

Wai-Iti River had a peak flow of 650 l/s after the recent rain, and Motueka at Woodstock was at 17700 l/s - well above the trigger level of 7000 l/s.

Te Waikoropupū Springs is at 9610 l/s, some way from the Water Conservation Order trigger of 6895 l/s.

Regarding dam levels, the Cobb is 88 % full, Wai-Iti is 67.5% full and Waimea Community Dam is 99.5%.

The Moutere Deep Groundwater zone remains a particular area of concern as the Eastern Zone has reached a specific consent trigger of 37.1m.

The next trigger for other permits in the Moutere Eastern zone is 35m. If this trigger is hit, it will likely mean that the Coastal Zone will require the same restrictions to be applied as they are shown to be strongly connected.

Fortunately, no other groundwater triggers have been reached across the district.

Further rain is forecast for this weekend and more on Christmas Day and Boxing Day next week.

It is hoped this will further alleviate the pressure on the Dovedale and Motupiko surface water.

The Waimea water management zone is now managed in the context of the Waimea Dam being fully operational.

The augmented river flows provided by the reservoir will give dam affiliated water permit holders a secure supply over the summer months. However non-affiliated permit holders will be subject to the non-affiliated triggers (which includes cease take) that is specified in the Tasman Resource Management Plan and also in their individual consent conditions.

These non-affiliated triggers are based on unmodified (non-dam effect) river flow at Wairoa - Irvines site.

No restrictions are in place for users of Council-managed reticulated water supplies.

It is important that consent holders are familiar with their Resource Consent conditions.

You can keep up to date with groundwater and river flow data by visiting our environmental data portal www.tasman.govt.nz/my-region/environment/environmental-data-portal.

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