Auckland residents are being asked by Watercare to only use water for essential needs as the city’s dams fall by almost half.
The Hunua and Waitakere ranges, home to the city’s water storage dams have received about 65 per cent less rainfall than normal since the start of the year.
As a result, the total volume of water stored in these dams has fallen to 53 per cent, almost 20 per cent less than this time last year which sat at 71 per cent.
Washing the car or water blasting the house is not viewed as essential and Aucklanders need to abstain for a period of time, the CEO of Watercare says.
“We’re experiencing a severe drought. So while we encourage everyone to wash their hands regularly, we ask that people limit their outdoor water use. Washing your car and water blasting the house is not essential right now," says Raveen Jaduram.
It comes as the MetService forecast for the month ahead is for drier-than-normal conditions.
“We are expecting some rain next week, which is extremely welcome,” says Mr Jaduram.
“However, a day or two of rain is not enough to break a drought. We need sustained rainfall over several weeks for our water storage dams to replenish. Hopefully that will arrive in May or June. In the meantime, we all need to do our bit to reduce our water use.”
Operationally, Watercare has been working to reduce the impact of the drought on its water storage dams. It has been doing this by maximising production at its Waikato and Onehunga treatment plants, which draw water from a river and aquifer. This means there is less demand on the dams.
Watercare has been running a ‘Water is Precious’ campaign since the start of February to encourage people to use water wisely.
Mr Jaduram says Aucklanders have been responding very positively to the campaign.
“When we started the campaign, the extremely hot and dry weather was causing water demand to skyrocket. Some days the city was devouring 565 million litres.
"Since then, the combined impact of the campaign and the Covid-19 lockdown has seen demand fall by around 80 million litres a day. That’s a great result – one we can be really pleased about – but it’s possible to do even better,” he says.
Watercare’s advice to Aucklanders:
• Keep washing your hands regularly.
• Keep your showers short: 4-minutes or less.
• Only run your dishwasher or washing machine when they’re full.
• Limit your outdoor water use by not washing the care or using a water blaster.
Watercare does not intend to implement formal water restrictions at this stage but will not rule them out in the future if water demand increases.
“With many people spending their days at home, it’s tempting to tackle outdoor chores and run the hose all day.
"We ask that you don’t wash your car or water blast the house. Please hold off until we’ve had several weeks of rainfall,” Mr Jaduram says.
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