Tararua District continues to feel the effects of the drought despite rain falling on Wednesday. Photo / File
The latest rain received, while welcome, has had little to no effect on the current water shortages across the region, the Tararua District Council said in its latest update on the critical water shortage.
In order to make a difference, rainfall records indicate the Ruahine Ranges from Woodville to Norsewood will require significant rainfall of at least 10mm per day over a sustained period of at least five days, but no such rainfall is forecast for at least the next four weeks.
As the drought-like conditions continue the council is escalating the co-ordinated response and bringing in additional help from across the region as required.
"Council is grateful for the water conservation efforts our communities are making and it has made a noticeable difference. We have, however, become aware that some residents are taking extreme water conservation measures including limiting or going without water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene.
"We would like to assure Tararua residents, even those in the most impacted towns of Dannevirke and Norsewood, council has sufficient water for people to go about their day to day personal activities.
"The health and wellbeing of our people is the top priority for council and residents should not take measures that place this at risk. If anyone has concerns about their health and wellbeing due to the current water shortage they are encouraged to contact council."
Dannevirke remained in a relatively stable balance between water supply and demand, the report said.
"The efforts of the community are making all the difference, however, we must all remain vigilant around water use as the current shortages look to be continuing for some weeks yet."
Without significant rain, the Tamaki River is forecast to continue to drop quickly and is likely to reach levels where the council is physically unable to take any water.
"If this happens it is highly likely water restrictions in Dannevirke will escalate to 'essential use only', which means water can only be used for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene."
Contingency plans were continuing to be further developed should this occur to ensure water remained available to the community. These plans include bringing water from Palmerston North by train and preparations are being made for this now.
The report said Norsewood had made good progress to bring water use down since a community leaders' meeting last week. The community must bring their usage down to 50cu m by today to avoid water restrictions escalating to "essential use only".
The community had reduced demand from 72cu m to 61cu m between Monday and Tuesday. Signage has been placed in Norsewood to let the community know their daily usage and this is also available on the council website www.tararuadc.govt.nz/water.
Woodville water is currently being supplied solely from the new reservoir as the Mangapapa Stream is flowing below the level where the council is allowed to draw water.
"This situation is expected to continue for some time yet, which means the town faces the prospect of the reservoir reaching extremely low levels. As the reservoir level drops, water restrictions are expected to increase to 'essential use only'.
"At this stage we anticipate this escalation may be two weeks away. It is therefore vital that Woodville residents increase their water conservation efforts now to buy time to delay or avoid the escalation of restrictions."
The report said the dry weather had been increasingly impacting on rural communities to the point where a number of households are out or nearly out of water.
"Council is co-ordinating a response with rural representatives, including the Rural Support Trust. Rural households that are running short of household water are encouraged to advise council so we can work with towards a solution. A webpage where rural residents can register their details is available on the council website www.tararuadc.govt.nz/ruralwater."
The information received from rural households about water will be advised to the council incident management team. There is also provision on the website for households to record non-water-related concerns or issues they face and these will be provided to the Rural Support Trust to follow up, the report said.
"Council is aware that rural residents are sharing water from various sources amongst each other at this challenging time. We are concerned that many of the water sources will not be treated and therefore pose a potential health risk.
"We strongly encourage residents that receive water from untreated or unknown sources to boil it before use. For more information about this visit https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/healthy-living/drinking-water/saving-water-during-water-shortage.
"While much of the current focus is on the towns experiencing severe water shortages council would like to assure all residents that all water supplies are being closely monitored.
"If we all continue to conserve water wherever possible we will give ourselves the best opportunity of getting through this event without having to escalate water restrictions."