The Whau Valley Dam is below 50% storage. Rivers are also low, so we can’t draw water from them. Therefore water restrictions are now in place. These entail such things as not filling swimming pools, not using sprinklers, and other common sense measures.

The situation at present is not as bad as it has been in the past. In 1987 the Whau Valley Dam got down to 19% full.

Wilson’s Dam at Ruakaka is full and water tankers are drawing water from this source to deliver to households.

Water leakage from pipes, hydrants and illegal connections consumes around 20%. This is comparable to other districts. Council has an on-going programme to detect and repair such leaks.

Looking to the future the Council is exploring resource consents that will ultimately determine where in the district further storage will be built.