Water restrictions lifted in Tauranga after nearly two months

The sprinkler ban and ban on hosing of concrete or paved surfaces was put in place in mid-December. Photo / File

Tauranga's water restrictions have been lifted after nearly two months.

The Tauranga City Council said this afternoon the restrictions would be lifted with immediate effect.

City waters manager Steve Burton said with the rain across the city during the past few days, and more rain predicted, restrictions were no longer needed to manage water demand.

"Before we introduced water restrictions, we were reaching daily water use peaks of around 56 million litres, up by around 10 million litres on the same time the previous year," he said.

"Thanks to the response from our community, we're now tracking at below 45 million litres a day on average, which has made a big difference to our ability to get through dry periods."

Burton said households could now return to normal water use.

The sprinkler ban and ban on the hosing of concrete or paved surfaces was put in place in mid-December after an early onset of hot, dry weather. It was the first time in 17 years Tauranga had imposed water restrictions.

Burton said the council and its contractors also played a part in saving water.

He said a maintenance contractor was continuing to respond as quickly as possible to reported leaks and many contractors had also successfully used bore supplies to carry out dust suppression on their earthworks over the hot summer period.

He urged people to continue to watch their water use and said sprinklers were a relatively wasteful way to water plants.

"This is a good position to be in, but it's important that people keep being responsible with their water usage.

"It's much more effective to restrict watering to the cooler hours of the day so the moisture doesn't evaporate, and keep soil moist by using mulch."

Burton said planning for the Waiari Water Supply Scheme was under way to help meet the future water supply needs of Tauranga and the wider Western Bay of Plenty.

Construction was scheduled to start in March and the project was expected to be completed in 2021.

He said the city was probably going to be under extra pressure over the next few summers and, even once the Waiari had boosted treatment capacity, Tauranga would still need to view water as a limited resource and manage it efficiently.

Last week the Bay of Plenty Times reported an expert in resource management believed investment in sustainable solutions was needed when planning for Tauranga's future water use.

Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology's associate professor in resource management Dr Ian McLean said the council should look at conservation and efficiency as the best mechanism to respond.

"The real options in terms of dealing with these issues are much more radical – they are redesigning our houses to do things like use water off the roof."

Read that story here.