Weather: Water and fire restrictions stretch the country as summer sizzles

More than 20 of the country's councils have water or fire restrictions in place as the country continues to sizzle in near-drought conditions.

Parts of Northland, Auckland, northern Waikato and Coromandel are currently in the midst of drought or extreme drought conditions while King Country, East Cape, Manawatu, Whanganui, Wairarapa and Canterbury have been deemed "very dry" according to Niwa's drought index.

It's also put all of the Waikato region into a prohibited fire season along with Christchurch.

Water alert levels are also on the rise around the country.

South Wairarapa and parts of Nelson are on a total water ban, while councils in the Far North, Hamilton, Waitomo, Waikato, Napier on Level 2. Tauranga has banned the use of sprinklers.

Nelson City Council is on level one but has banned visitors from visiting six reserves, including the Sir Stanley Whitehead Reserve which was burned during the Pigeon Valley fire last year.

Niwa's drought index as at January 31 shows parts of the Far North, Auckland, northern Waikato and Hauraki in severe drought. Image / Niwa

The decision was made in conjunction with Fire and Emergency NZ monitoring of the Build Up Index, and the difficulty of suppressing a fire. A BUI of 80 would be a level of concern and it had since passed that point.

Extremely low river levels in the Waingawa River forced the Masterton District Council (MDC) to introduce a total watering ban in the town last week until its next bout of significant rainfall

Carterton and Martinborough also have a total watering bans.

Dryness Expanding

Since the start of the year, dryness has expanded & intensified, particularly for the North Island. The NZ Drought Index now indicates extreme dryness or meteorological drought from Northland through to the Waikato. Unfortunately, dryness will worsen over the next several days. ~Chris

Posted by NIWA Weather on Saturday, 25 January 2020

Parts of the Wairarapa and Tararua districts were currently at extreme risk, while areas of southern Hawke's Bay were at "very high" risk.

The rest of the North Island is currently at moderate or high risk of fire, according to Fenz's fire-risk website.

The dry conditions have also put water delivery companies under pressure.

A resident recently commented on a Bombay Facebook page about two companies fully booked with orders, while the Herald understands resources are also stretched in the Helensville and Kaupakapaka areas.

Healthy Water Tanks Ltd posted on its Facebook page today that due to Watercare "temporarily" shutting down pumps at Helensville and Warkworth it had reduced the flow for all pumps on the Hibiscus Coast to a third of their normal rate due to high demand and low reservoir levels.

"This means it is taking longer for all water tankers to fill, so the wait times to fill are growing, and it means all deliveries for the Helensville/Kaukapakapa and Northern areas are coming out of the Hibiscus Coast, adding to the queues at the filling stations.

"We are hearing some heartbreaking stories of people struggling immensely and we truly are doing our best to help everyone."

As if it wasn't already a crisis! With our wait time hovering at around 2 weeks we have had a further challenge thrown...

Posted by Healthy Water Tanks Ltd on Sunday, 2 February 2020