"It's a combination of higher demand from our point of view as well as the drought conditions that are ongoing. Clearly we're a growing city, however the summer usage and establishing gardens and outdoor use is contributing to it as well."
Unlike Auckland, which relies on dams for its water, Tauranga relies on source streams.
"At our intake works, normally we'd see a significantly greater amount of water going over the weir and flowing down the stream and that's the area where we are concerned."
But introducing restrictions only works if everyone adheres to the rules.
"The challenge we have when introducing restrictions is making sure that everyone complies with it," said Bahrs. "There are situations where people choose to ignore the restrictions and that makes it challenging for the community as a whole. We'd really encourage people to think about how they use water, especially outdoors because that's where we see the big difference."
Bahrs says we need to be more mindful of just how precious water is.
"We definitely need to think differently about water. It is a precious resource, it's not unlimited and therefore we need to place a degree of value on it.
"While water falls from the sky and it is free, the challenge that we have is to take it from a source water stream, treat it to a standard where anyone can drink it and there's no health implications and then to pipe it from treatment, through storage, through to your home. We do that for just $2 for a tonne of water."
For those wanting a limitless supply of water, it is possible, but would come at great cost.
"If you catered for every eventuality in terms of maximum water use you would be committing the city to a cost that is unmanageable. We can do it but whether it's in the community's best interest as a ratepayer ... I would be questioning that strongly.
"The idea is to treat water as a valuable resource and ensure it gets used wisely."
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