Whakatāne, Ōhope and Matatā residents have been urged to conserve water as a result of dry weather.

Tomasz Krawczyk, Whakatane District Council general manager explains that it is important to conserve water early, if the high temperatures and dry weather continues.

'The current dry conditions are steadily reducing the Whakatāne River flow and if there is no significant rainfall in the next week, we'll reach a point where salt water intrusion will begin to restrict our intake from the Whakatāne River around high tides,” Tomasz says.

'While we can address that to a degree, any voluntary conservation measures the community implements will help us to keep pace with demand and maintain reservoir storage at a level which can cope with emergency situations, such as firefighting requirements or major pipe failures.”

A special warning has been given to Matatā residents, due to their water system working overtime.

'We're also asking Matatā consumers to voluntarily reduce water use until further notice, so that we can avoid the need for restrictions on hose and sprinkler use.” Tomasz says.

The Whakatane District Council have a three step restriction process in place, and they are currently at the first stage, urging citizens to restrict personal water use.

The dry conditions may lead to further action, where residents will have alternate days to use hoses and sprinklers, and if necessary, a red sign may be signalled to ban all use of hoses and sprinklers.

'We hope that restrictions can be avoided, but that's largely dependent on the ability of households and businesses to voluntarily reduce their water use,” says Tomasz.

Some simple conservation tips include:

· Bucket-wash cars or boats, if possible

· Don't refill or top-up swimming pools

· If you know you have leaking taps, fix them now

· If you see a leaking water line, report it to the Council as soon as possible

· Flush toilets sparingly

· Avoid using your bath and cut your shower time down as much as possible

· While waiting for hot water to flow through to showers or taps, catch the unused water in a bucket for use in washing machines or for other purposes.

Further information will be provided to update consumption and water storage trends.