Covid 19 coronavirus: Northland water carriers still an essential service

Water delivery is an essential service so Northlanders can rest assured they can order their supplies anytime during the lockdown. Photo / John Stone

Water delivery is classified as an essential service and, while intermittent rain has slowed demand a little, carriers are experiencing steady business that is expected to continue until winter.

Andrew Kevey of Water 2 Go in Whangārei said demand was "pretty steady", down to about half of what his company did when drought was declared in Northland in February.

He's using two trucks and is averaging six loads a day.

"In summer, the demand was nearly double but it's still pretty steady at the moment. We'll keep going until winter or until we run out of water,"

Kevey said compared with a few weeks ago when bookings were full for weeks on end, these days deliveries were done as and when jobs came in.

Simon Reid of Always Wet Household Water in Whangārei said deliveries to households slowed a bit after recent rain but he was still "pretty busy".

"You can't have families without water. The demand is pretty much on a par with what it was at the height of summer but it slowed down a bit with recent rain. We're doing three, maybe four runs a day."

His company was getting requests for water delivery from households as far south as Maungaturoto but Reid said they were referred to a carrier closer to that area.

Duncan Mackay of Big Red Trucking supplies water in the Bream Bay area. He said the demand had slowed down but he was still doing six to eight runs daily.

During summer, he was booked weeks in advance but intermittent rain and the fact people were conserving water had reduced the number of runs.

Coolstar Water Carriers in Kaitaia is also busy covering the Far North from Hokianga up, doing up to six runs a day.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website