Water restrictions remain in force in Waipa

22 March 2011

Water restrictions will remain in force in the Waipa district for at least the next four weeks.

The district is currently sitting at alert level 2 which means sprinklers can only be used on alternate days between 6am and 8am and 6pm and 8pm.

People living at addresses with an odd street number can use sprinklers on dates ending in an odd number, and people living at addresses with an even street number can use sprinklers on dates ending in an even number.

Water services planning and design engineer Joanne Cumming said water demand in Cambridge continued to be high and repairs were underway on one of the reservoirs on Taylor's Hill in Te Awamutu.

Staying at alert level 2 will allow us to conserve water while the reservoir repair is taking place, she said.

Further to this water demand in Cambridge has not reduced enough to warrant the return to Alert Level 1, although we are hoping there will be a steady reduction now we are heading into the cooler months.

A leak had been detected in the Taylor's Hill reservoir earlier this year and had steadily increased over the past few weeks so the decision was made to bring forward the repair work that had originally been planned for the winter.

We have had to drain the reservoir to allow this work to take place and it is expected to be completed in about four weeks, said Mrs Cumming.

We appreciate the conservation measures the community has undertaken to date and we hope to remove the water restrictions once the reservoir is repaired and the water use in Cambridge has reduced.

We will continue to monitor the situation in Cambridge on a weekly basis as historically demand drops around April.

ENDS

For further information contact

Lisa Nairne

Senior Communications Advisor

Ph: 07 872 0062 or 027 532 1760

Email: lisa.nairne@waipadc.govt.nz