Tauranga residents draining water supply

Tauranga's water consumption has been high over the past few days. Photo/file

Tauranga's growing population is placing pressure on the city's water supply - with usage creeping towards 50,000 m3/day.

The amount being used represents about 80 per cent of the city's capacity.

High water consumption in recent days was to blame for cloudy water for some residents.

As the system had been straining to keep up with high demand, some water was running out of the tap cloudy with air bubbles.

Tauranga City Council said the cloudiness would clear from the bottom if left to stand in a jug and the water was perfectly safe to drink.

In a release council said the city's water consumption was trending upwards this past week.

The growth of the city was putting increasing pressure on the city's water supply capacity each year, especially along the coastal strip each summer.

Since January 9 water usage in Tauranga was creeping up towards 50,000 m3/day.

Tauranga city summer peak water usage

Water restrictions would be considered when water usage was sustained above 50,000 m3/day.

Restrictions have not been needed since water meters were introduced in 2000.

Council said the trend of pressure on Tauranga water supply would continue until the Waiari Water Supply Scheme came online in 2021.

The graph pictured revealed how Tauranga's water demand was tracking compared with previous summers.

It shows water usage peaking much earlier in 2016/17 than in 2014/15 or 2015/16.

The seven day rolling average smoothed out any day-to-day water operations spikes and provided a good indication of how the demand was changing in response to changing weather.

WAIARI WATER SUPPLY SCHEME
- it is a new water processing plant to meet Tauranga's growing needs
- the water project involved the development of a new water supply intake from the Waiari Stream, a water processing plant in No 1. Rd Te Puke and a water pipeline from the plant to Papamoa
- it is expected the water demand from Mt Maunganui and Papamoa will exceed the supply available from existing pipelines in the next 10 years
- construction is expected to start around 2018 and be finished around 2021