Mamaku water bore almost fixed

Mamaku's main water bore should be operational again tomorrow.

Testing of the pump had been occurring today and it should be up and running again tomorrow, said Rotorua Lakes Council water operations manager Eric Cawte.

"In the meantime, we're asking that Mamaku residents continue conserving water, but we expect things will be back to normal this week - we'll keep people posted via council's website and Facebook," he said.

"We're very grateful for residents' efforts in conserving water during this time and their ongoing patience while we've worked to fix the problem."

Average daily water use in Mamaku is about 240,000 litres a day, but this can rise to more than 310,000 litres a day in very dry weather.

The standby bore has been able to cope during the pump breakdown due to people conserving water - under normal circumstances it would not be able to cope with peak summer demands.

Mr Cawte said the Mamaku situation served as a timely reminder for the whole district about the importance of conserving water, particularly during hot dry weather.

"The old bore has been running really well during this time and producing a reasonable amount of water but not enough to cope with what we'd normally expect during a run of hot weather so that's why residents have been asked to conserve water.

"The rain we've had during this time has helped, but the key really has been people heeding the call to conserve water," he said.

"Occasionally things can go wrong, as we've experienced in Mamaku, and we rely on residents to help us by being careful about their water use. It's something people should keep in mind at all times - water's a precious resource and there's a cost involved in getting it to you."

Mamaku's main bore pump broke down two weeks ago and residents have been conserving water to ensure the standby bore could cope while the problem was fixed.

The standby bore was once Mamaku's main water supply but its capacity dipped about eight years ago so a new bore was built four years ago and it is the latter which failed in December.

The problem was found to be with the electric motor in the pump (270m down the bore) and new parts and reinstallation were required.

The pump and motor were reinstalled last Friday and electrical contractors then moved in to undertake reconnections.