Tararua District Council reservoir is at an all-time low after council has been supplementing river supply with this water for the past three months. Photo / Supplied
Tararua District Council reservoir is at an all-time low after council has been supplementing river supply with this water for the past three months. Photo / Supplied
Unauthorised tankers have been collecting water from fire hydrants in Dannevirke, a town in the midst of a critical water shortage.
It's a tampering act that Tararua District Council mayor Tracey Collis has decribed as shocking.
"Many individuals and businesses are making sacrifices and we take a very dim view of people knowingly accessing water mains without approval," Collis said.
"It is extremely disappointing that any contractor would tamper with our supply during such a critical period.
"I am grateful to the vigilant members of public for reporting these actions to us and am shocked that anyone has felt this is an acceptable action to place themselves ahead of our entire community network."
Dannevirke and Norsewood are both on a total hosing ban, with storage facilities perilously low and the mayor herself describing the situation as a "crisis".
Chief executive Blair King said the unauthorised tankers were brought to their attention by Dannevirke residents.
"People have come to us with information and we will be conducting lines of enquiries including looking at the drinking water register," King said.
"We have the tanker description and we think it's collected water once or twice."
Tararua Mayor Tracey Collis is not pleased with water thieves striking hydrants in the district. Photo / File
He said the tanker had likely taken around 24,000 litres of water before driving off.
"That would help approximately 80 people for one day," King said.
"When residents are not on restrictions they use between 600 to 700 litres per person, per day.
"On restrictions that is usually cut in half to approximately 300 litres, per person, per day."
He said there were dangers in unauthorised people taking water.
"Hydrants are designed to allow a high volume of water to be transferred between the water mains and a fire appliance," King said.
"If water restrictions limit the total water council can distribute, then council can partially close the valves feeding some water mains to ensure the water is prioritised to residents, health needs and direct business requirements.
"If the quantity of water refilling this main is restricted, then the pressure inside the mains can rapidly drop whenever a hydrant is opened.
"So any unauthorised use of a council mains by a water tanker, creates a risk that if the pressure in the mains drops, the water in the tanker can back flow into the mains. This has direct effect on public safety and health."
The Ministry of Health certifies individual water tanker operators, based on their "water safety plan", King said.
"A certified operator would not comply with their 'water safety plan' if they sourced water from our town mains without specific approval."
Low rainfall and river flows have seen water restrictions created throughout the Horizons region. Photo / File
The latest rain received, while welcome, has had little to no effect on the water shortages across the Tararua District.
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.
No such rainfall is forecast for at least the next four weeks, King said.
"At some point we will run out, but have contingency plans in place," he said.
"If there is no rain we will stay in 'critical' mode for the next four weeks. We are trying to ensure there is enough water for businesses and households for basic needs."
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.
"We are planning on bringing in water from Palmerston North through KiwiRail, and while we are still taking some water from the river, we are supplementing from Palmerston North."
