Twizel faces restrictions as dry sets in

Level one water restrictions will be imposed if the Twizel River level continues to drop.

Mackenzie District Council assets group manager Bernie Haar said if level one restrictions are imposed, the community will be asked to conserve water and they will not be able to water lawns.

A council statement said that with recent hot dry weather, the Twizel River levels have dropped to ‘‘quite a low level’’.

Twizel recorded temperatures more than 30 degrees Celsius three days last week.

Environment Canterbury’s (ECan) website says the river flow at Lake Poaka was 0.671 cubic metres per second on yesterday afternoon, with its seven-day peak flow being 1.17cumecs.

Twizel has recorded just 3mm of rain this week, ECan says.

Level one restrictions were imposed in Fairlie last week after the Opihi River’s flow dropped below the trigger level of 8.1cumecs.

ECan says the river’s flow 6.065cumecs yesterday afternoon.

However, rain is forecast in the Canterbury high country until at least Tuesday next week.

The MetService says Twizel could get more than 1mm of rain on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, while there was a small chance the town could receive more than 10mm on Sunday and Monday.

MetService meteorologist James Millward said eastern areas of the South Island may see more showers than usual next week.

Haar said the levels set by ECan require all consent holders to impose restrictions.

Twizel residents were asked to conserve water late last month after the town’s reservoir dropped to 33 per cent of capacity.

A storm event tripped out electronics at the town’s water plant on January 19, shutting off its bore bumps and causing the reservoir to drop. was