Hamilton City Council highlights importance of water on World Water Day

Hamilton City Council commemorated UN World Water Day. Photo / Supplied

Hamilton City Council marked United Nations World Water Day last week to celebrate this precious resource, learn more about it and raise awareness around sustainability and climate change.

World Water Day is an annual UN observance that has been marked annually on March 22 since 1993, to also raise awareness of the 2 billion people in the world who live without safe access to water.

To mark the day, Organisation Smart Water, a partnership between Hamilton city, and Waipā and Waitomo district councils, is running a competition for schools to win a rain- harvesting system to collect and reuse rainwater.

Hamilton City Council's city waters unit manager Emily Botje says: "Although we've had water in short supply and then water in excess in recent weeks, World Water Day helps highlight just how critical it is for us as a resource.

"The impacts of climate change are going to stay with us, so it's vital we continue to do all we can to use water mindfully throughout the whole year, and not just in the hotter summer months."

Every year, the day has a theme. This year it's Groundwater – making the invisible visible.

Smart Water says: "Because we don't see groundwater people are often unaware that it even exists, let alone how it functions and how we depend on it. With climate change affecting our weather patterns and water sources more frequently, we will come to rely on groundwater more."

Smart Water is running a competition and a special activity for schools to commemorate the day every year.

This year's activity is an experiment to demonstrate that only a small part of Earth's water is freshwater. Smart Water provides all participating schools with the materials to run the activity.

Participating schools have the chance to win a fully installed rain-harvesting system that collects rainwater from the roof and stores it in two 250-litre barrels to be used to water outside areas. The winner will be shown how the rainwater system works, be given a talk on water conversation and be featured on the Smart Water website.

There are also prize packs for two runner-up classes.

To enter the competition schools are asked to create a mini video of the class demonstration. To find out more and register here. Registrations close on April 12.

For more information on water, go to smartwater.org.nz, or keep up with the latest updates from the council through the Antenno app.

Meanwhile, Matamata-Piako District Council announced the district would drop the water restriction levels to level 2. This means residents whose street address number is even should use sprinklers and garden irrigation systems on days with even dates in the month and odd letterbox numbers can water on days with odd dates.

The council had been in level 3, sprinkler ban, for eight weeks, and while the district dropped a level, the water supply was still under pressure, the council's water and wastewater manager Karl Pavlovich says.

"We really appreciate people following the restrictions because it makes a big difference. In this case, the water-saving efforts by residents happened to combine with some more rain, and temperatures lowering a little. That's helped to reduce the water demand, and has meant the water supply is now better able to keep pace with current demand."