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Auckland Council and Watercare are asking everyone to heed their calls for water conservation, as Auckland’s drought continues.
At an Emergency Committee meeting yesterday, Mayor Phil Goff said the message is “don’t wash your house or your car, but do wash your hands”.
A Watercare spokesperson says although demand for water has dropped by 30 percent since it began its Our Water is Precious campaign in February, earlier this week it increased again.
Watercare is concerned that during lockdown, people are doing outdoor work such as house cleaning or watering the garden because they have the time, or are bored.
“We don’t plan to introduce restrictions, but please no water blasting or taking long showers,” the spokesperson says.
Although the water supply is currently stable, there has been around 65 percent less rainfall than normal in the Hunua and Waitakere ranges since the start of the year and dam levels are dropping significantly. Yesterday, the volume of water stored in Auckland’s nine dams was 53 percent – 78 percent is the historical average for this time of year.
Watercare expects to see dams fall below 50 percent by the middle of this month and weather predictions indicate the drought may not break until May or June.
Mayor Phil Goff said yesterday that it would become clear in a couple of weeks whether water restrictions were needed. He said these would be voluntary at first, but could then be enforced if necessary.
Meanwhile, demand for rainwater tank fills has levelled off on the Coast, according to local water-carrying companies. Those spoken to by Hibiscus Matters have caught up, or will catch up soon, with the backlog of orders.
Healthy Water Tanks operations manager, Abbey Fouche, says when the lockdown began, “everything went haywire” and the company had a number of cancellations.
“Customers panicked and cancelled because they didn’t want people coming to their house,” she says.
However, she says in the last two or three days demand has crept up again as tanks get low.
Water carriers are carrying out their essential work within the current restrictions to keep everyone safe. This includes having hand sanitiser, gloves and masks available and running a strict zero contact policy.
“This has been hard because we like to have a chat with customers, but now they need to stay inside while we deliver the water, call us if they have any issues and pay online,” Abbey says.
Healthy Water Tanks has advised customers that if any members of a household are unwell or in self-isolation due to contact with the virus, it needs to be told, so the team can make an informed decision about whether to attend the property.
Note: Watercare has made an additional plea that people do not flush wet wipes down the toilet, saying since the lockdown began, there has been a huge increase in blockages.
