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The seemingly endless rains this spring and summer are not just bad news for holidaymakers and beach-goers – the constant wet weather is not great for local water businesses, either.
Normally at this time of year, their phones are running hot and wait times for tank refills can run to several weeks. However, although domestic runs have plummeted to a virtual standstill, most carriers are managing to keep ticking over with alternative revenue streams.
Artesian & Solway Water owner operator Christine Walker said this was the wettest summer she had experienced since they took over the Warkworth business seven years ago.
“But we always have some sort of business,” she said. “We’re doing a lot of new tanks going in, we have got customers who use irrigation and need water, and there are some who don’t collect rainwater and just use us to supply them.”
She said the company had also filled a few swimming pools in the run-up to Christmas.
“We’re working at the kind of level we normally would in winter instead of mid-summer,” she said.
Graeme Gilby set up Raincloud in 2020 and now delivers water to the Auckland region and beyond under a number of brands. He says while this is his first wet summer, the businesses are coping due to the ability to diversify, from carting milk for Fonterra to adapting trucks for earthmoving.
“We can change our trucks from water tankers to tipper trucks – we take off the tanks and put on tippers, and there’s a lot of earthworks going on, so we’re still busy.”
He said he felt sorry for carriers that didn’t have that option, but said he was sure there would still be plenty of demand later in the summer.
The good news is that, when the next dry spell inevitably comes around, householders can expect little or no delays in getting their tanks refilled when they run short of water.
