A drier week across the Tasman District has meant current water shortage direction orders remain in place, along with a precautionary approach taken for the Motupiko management zone.

Moutere Eastern and Coastal Zone Step 1 (20 % Cut) continues to apply from Monday 27 January, 2025.

Step 1 will also come into effect for the Motupiko and Rainy.

It is important Consent holders are familiar with their Resource Consent conditions as some may be subject to higher restrictions.

There are no additional restrictions in place for Council-managed reticulated water supplies beyond the conditions of consent.

The region is slowly drying out from the variable amounts of scattered rain over the previous two weeks.

However, rainfall of between 10mm and 50mm forecast for the district this coming weekend is expected to help balance any drop in groundwater, river flows and soil moisture.

The Te Waikoropupū Springs flows are now at 9500 litres per second (l/s) having risen over the last few days with recent generation at Cobb Dam. This remains well above the WCO trigger of 6895 l/s.

The only river in the Upper Motueka area that has hit its trigger level is the Motupiko.

The Moutere Eastern groundwater after the rises previously has now declined to 35.16 m – which is near the 35 m amsl trigger.

Wai-iti Dam is 68.2 % full and the Lower Wai-iti River flow is still well above its trigger levels.

Soil moisture is dropping both in Tākaka and Waimea but are still above the stress point at this stage.

The Waimea Dam is full, and the flow is about 1000 l/s below the dam – the unmodified flow at Wairoa at Irvines is 4240 l/s - unaffiliated restrictions is at 2750 l/s. Flow at Appleby is about 3600 l/s.

The position will be reviewed at the next meeting of the Dry Weather Taskforce, scheduled for 28 January 2024.

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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