A decline in river flow and aquifer levels following last week’s rainfall has seen the reintroduction and continuation, respectively, of water restrictions for consent holders in the Motupiko/Rainy and Moutere Deep Aquifer water management zones.

After a brief removal of restrictions last week, Motupiko and the related Rainy Zone will move to Step 1 restriction as of Monday 3 March 2025.

As there is no significant improvement in the Moutere Eastern Groundwater Zone/ Coastal Zone levels Step 2 - or a 35% reduction in water use - will remain in place.

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

These restrictions do not apply to Tasman urban water supplies or Council-managed reticulated water supplies beyond the conditions of consent.

In Golden Bay, The Cobb Dam is now sitting at 44 % full, while Te Waikoropupū Springs is flowing at about 10,000 l/s - slightly lower than last week.

Most rivers in the district are flowing above trigger levels – notably the Motueka River at Woodstock which is flowing around 12,500 l/s.

The only river that has dropped rapidly in the Upper Motueka area is the Motupiko which peaked at about 2600 l/s last week but is now sitting just above 250 l/s (which is Step 1 restrictions for Motupiko & Rainy).

The Lower Wai-iti flow is in a healthy state for late February at 1300 l/s while the Wai-iti Dam is sitting at 68.6 % full.

The Waimea Dam remains at full capacity with the spillway flow just over 800 l/s.

The unmodified flow at Irvines is about 6200 l/s.

The Moutere Deep groundwater zone is declining again after a small rise last week.

The Moutere Eastern rose to about 33.26 m amsl from 32.63 but is now at 33.15 m amsl. This is just shy of the Step 2 trigger of 33 m.

The weather outlook looks fine for the coming days with some minor drizzle forecast.

Staff will continue to monitor river flows, groundwater and soil moisture levels in the coming days to ascertain the need for further measures.

Decisions will be reviewed at the next meeting of the Dry Weather Taskforce, provisionally scheduled for Tuesday 4 March 2025.

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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