Summer is here and Waitomo District Council (WDC) say the Districts water supplies are looking good but will continue to keep a close watch on them.

Tony Hale, general manager infrastructure services says, “We’re fortunate we have a good supply of water across the district and we don’t expect to get to crisis levels during the summer months.”

Although the Council are not currently concerned about a water shortage, they are still encouraging residents to do their bit.

“Water usage increases hugely during the summer months so it’s important we aren’t wasteful.  If we’re all considerate now, it will help to minimise the need for any further water restrictions as summer progresses.”

Currently, Waitomo residents on council water supply are sitting at level one water restriction which means sprinklers are only to be used between 6am- 8am and 6pm-8pm.

Tony adds, “We can only store and treat so much water, so I encourage everyone to get in touch as soon as possible if they notice a water leak or anyone wasting water.  Our water levels are looking good now but all it can take is one incident for it to change. Take Piopio for example, last year water restrictions come in overnight after a major water leak at a property saw our water storage reservoir nearly emptied.”

WDC will begin a water conservation campaign ahead of peak summer water usage and will provide updates if there are any changes to water restrictions.

Measures in place at Mokau

The Council are also reassuring Mokau and Awakino residents that additional measures have been put in place to reduce the impact of any water quality issues this summer.

Last summer the Mokau water treatment plant experienced an algae bloom, caused by the warm weather. This saw residents issued with precautionary boil notices.

“We learnt a lot last summer, and we’re now better prepared.  We’ve increased the frequency of site monitoring and water testing and made improvements to the plant. All will minimise the impact if another algae bloom occurred. 

WDC will begin work in the new year on a site upgrade which will further improve the resilience of the Mokau water treatment plant.