Napier's water restrictions eased after public responds

Napier City Council has eased their level four water restrictions back to level two after an "overwhelmingly positive response" from the public.

Yesterday afternoon Napier residents were warned water could run out by Monday night, after a warm weekend left the city's reservoirs critically low. A total watering ban - level four - was also put in place.

A review of the city's water reservoir levels has resulted in a move to level two, from just after 4pm today.

This means residents should take care with sprinklers and hoses, using them between 6am and 8am, and 7pm and 9pm only, as follows: even numbered houses on even days of the month, and odd numbered houses on odd days of the month.

"Irrigate your garden in the cool mornings, or evenings, when the plants can take the best advantage of the moisture," Director Infrastructure Jon Kingsford said.

Temperatures were expected to remain in the mid to late 20s, with no rain in the long range forecast until next week at this stage.

The Council water team would review the restrictions on a regular basis.

Level two restrictions aligned with a Council summer water conservation campaign, which was launched yesterday. The joint Napier City and Hastings District Councils' campaign encourages residents across both cities to conserve water where possible.

This review was signalled earlier today when Napier Mayor Bill Dalton and council director infrastructure Jon Kingsford provided an update on the situation, saying water levels were improving.

Mr Kingsford said Napier's reservoirs were still filling up at about 6am this morning, when they would normally begin falling.

Reservoir levels had now "levelled out", and at last check were around 75 to 80 per cent full.

"What that demonstrates is the demand for water from our community has almost returned to what we would call winter demand, so all of that water use has dried off once we put the call out," he said.

"I think that demonstrates a great uptake from our community and shows that the community is prepared to muck in and be part of the solution once they're informed and that is really the challenge of being able to provide that information in a timely fashion."

The level four restrictions were initially expected to remain in place until the end of the week, "however we've had such a positive response from the public we may be in a position to reduce the level of restrictions in the next day or two".

"We are monitoring water levels throughout the day to determine how our continued...hot weather will influence the demand for water during the day.

"Hopefully by this evening we'll be in a position to make a call on that, if not this evening then tomorrow morning".

With a week of hot weather still to come, he said it was unlikely council could remove all restrictions.

Water consumption lifts by up to 70 per cent in summer months and is caused primarily through outdoor water use.

Council staff have also been briefed on lowering water usage around parks and reserves. Non-potable water is used in some areas to irrigate city grounds and gardens, so as town supply is not affected.

For more information on water use or your Council's current restriction status please see www.napier.govt.nz or www.hastingsdc.govt.nz