By JAYNE HULBERT and RICHARD WOODD jayne.hulbert@tnl.co.nz - Taranaki | Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Critical water shortages are not being taken seriously by some South Taranaki residents, which is frustrating authorities.
Last week South Taranaki District Council imposed full water restrictions in a bid to prevent the water supply in the region drying up.
STDC engineering services group manager Neil McCann says they are disappointed some people don't seem to understand the critical situation and continue to disregard the ban.
"Some people think it's the same thing every year and it's no big deal ... but we are in a critical situation. This is not like previous years," Mr McCann said yesterday.
He says the council is holding just two weeks' supply in its reservoirs.
Water restrictions have been imposed in the district to see it through the next couple of months.
The total water ban means all hoses, sprinklers and irrigation systems - whether urban, rural, commercial or industrial - are banned until further notice.
Council officers have approached people they've seen using hoses and are often fielding indifferent feedback.
Mr McCann says they rely on people contacting them about water being wasted.
"People must be vigilant. Everyone needs to cut back."
However, one approach by the council is achieving results. More than 100 significant water leaks, collectively causing losses amounting to hundreds of thousands of litres a day, have been identified and repaired in South Taranaki without a single threat being issued by inspectors.
A two-pronged attack on critical areas - rural water schemes and Patea township - got great results, says utilities engineer Clive Margetts. A helicopter was hired to fly over four rural supply schemes and identify major leaks on farms by spotting fresh grass growth around pipelines and troughs.
Leaks were identified on 28 properties and letters were sent to them individually. By the time an inspector made a followup visit over the next four weeks, all the leaks had been repaired.
In Patea, an alarmingly high night-time usage of 30 cubic metres an hour, resulted in the council offering to provide a plumber to fix dripping taps, running water cisterns and leaking pipes, because there is no plumber in Patea.
Mr Margetts visited several locations, including the old freezing works and hospital sites, but was unable to see any obvious major leaks.
So a letter explaining the offer was hand-delivered to every address.
From this door-knocking and householders phoning in, the council was notified of 85 leaks that needed fixing. Many of the calls came the same day the letters were delivered.
Hawera plumber Bruce Commerer has been contracted to fix the leaks and the council is paying.
High demand continues to cause concern in the Waimate West dairy farming area with peak use at daily milking times taking the reservoir level down to just 20% of its capacity.
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