Residents angry at others flouting sprinkler ban

The sprinkler ban in force for parts of the Hastings district to save water is being flouted.

And that's prompting unhappy residents to flood social media with complaints about the fresh, green grass on lawns that were still being watered.

The ban applies to Hastings, Havelock North, Bridge Pa and Flaxmere and restricts residents to watering with hand-held hoses, only every second day, in early mornings and evenings.

Over the past two weeks, there have been multiple posts to the Hastings District Council facebook page complaining about others not abiding by the conservation measures.

"HDC - why don't you guys go for drive and check out how many lovely green lush lawns are around in havelock especially? I don't get the point in banning all this extra water use when half of 'certain' streets have water literally running off and down the footpath in the evenings. Do you police these bans?" asked one.

"I know someone that has their sprinkler on for two hours at a time watering more concrete than grass and it pisses me off!" said another.

Texts have also been flooding into Hawke's Bay Today along similar lines.

"Has the HDC any powers to enforce the hosing restrictions? Just drive around the streets of Havelock Nth and observe some verdant green lawns," said one.

Another suggested: "To save water give people fines for running sprinklers all day to keep their lawns green!"

Another resident told Hawke's Bay Today that on their street, while some lawns were arid, others were "lush", with people still using sprinklers and much water going down the gutters and across the road.

"If there's a green lawn there it's an indictment of that citizen - I'm not grumbling about hand-held watering at 9.30pm, it's the sprinklers going flat out at all times," they said.

A Hastings District Council spokesperson said most of the complaints they were fielding were on the council's facebook page, and council staff were private messaging those people to find out addresses involved.

To date the approach has been to talk to residents and explain the reason behind the restrictions.

Although the focus was on education, they said "there's potential to take a harder line if people do not obey the restrictions".

The council had turned off all watering of parks and gardens except cricket pitches and other sports grounds where health and safety issues were paramount.

"We are reviewing those continually to balance providing our communities with sporting grounds and conserving water."

Central Hawke's Bay is also on water restrictions, again hand-held hoses to water gardens only, on alternate days.

Chief executive John Freeman said there had been few complaints.

"Central Hawke's Bay has water restrictions every year, the residents are used to it and most people abide by the restrictions - you might have the odd case of one neighbour potting another that's flaunting the restrictions but it's not common."

In Napier, the situation was such that restrictions had not been imposed, said Napier City Council infrastructure director Jon Kingsford.

"At this point in time we are still fine, and very much promoting a conservation message.

"We're pleased that at the moment residents are mindful of their water usage and we don't need to move to restrictions.

"However the situation is fluid and given that the forecast for the next 10 days is for very hot weather, we are planning on checking in with the public again early next week and perhaps revisiting our messaging if it is deemed necessary."