Keeping veges growing in the drought boosts household costs
Gardeners are feeling the pain of Auckland City's rising water costs as they pay bills covering the cost of coping with the driest summer in a century.
Rises of up to 45 per cent in household water costs were reported to the Herald for the 90 days from late January.
Using the mains supply to water the soil around shrubs and vegetables resulted in one household's daily water use rising from 520 litres to 790 litres, or 51 per cent up, on the same period the year before.
Retailer Metrowater said residential consumption usually went 12 per cent in the summer. Its prices had not risen since last July.
In the past four years, water prices for Metrowater's 130,000 customers have risen by 31.2 per cent. This year it charges $1.562 to supply homes with 1000 litres but, importantly for those watering gardens, charges $3.745 per 1000 litres for waste water which is based on 75 per cent of water used.
Under the Super City merger, Metrowater and other city water retailers will be taken over by their present wholesale provider Watercare Services.
Watercare proposes raising the price of a cubic metre of water to 58c or 9 per cent from July 1. It also seeks 11 per cent more or $118.7 million in revenue for its wastewater services.
Watercare networks manager Mark Bourne said Aucklanders should be cutting their water use because storage dams were 56.7 per cent full, around 12 percentage points lower than the average for this time of year.
Consumers are being advised to help avoid water shortages next summer by fixing any leaky outdoor taps and sprinkler systems and using only hand-held hoses.
Auckland Botanic Gardens curator Brooke Stark said it was offering ideas for gardeners about how to reduce watering costs.
Advisory leaflets on water-wise gardening were available at reception.
"Having edible gardens is hugely popular and while crops demand water to get them through, others such as herbs, do not need the same.
"Our records show there was no rain in late January, February and March and that was when the soil started to dry out and plants needed a bit of a nurse.
"But if you water plants frequently through the summer, they rely on it and their roots won't go deep down where they can fend for themselves."
SPLASHING OUT
Summer water bills (including discount)
Two adults, two children, big garden
* January: $266.31
* April: $385.92 (+ $119.61)
* Increase: +45 per cent
Two adults, garden
* January: $226.15
* April: $303.77 (+ $77.62)
* Increase: +34 per cent
Two adults, garden (away three wks)
* January: $169.63
* April: $183.24 (+ $13.71)
* Increase: +7.5 per cent