Drought hitting businesses and events
The drought is taking its toll on business and events in Dannevirke with adaptations required to keep some afloat and events being cancelled.
Users of water like painters, garden centres, cleaners and builders are all affected to some degree by the current dry spell, perhaps the worst being LA Cleaning which cannot wash buildings or cars — the bulk of the business.
Painters seem unaffected one saying the dry sunny weather makes up for the wet early summer. One said water blasters do not actually use much water — more pressure than volume doing the cleaning and another said working predominantly in rural areas the town water supply is unaffected.
Garden centres soak up the water but they are adapting by monitoring water usage carefully. In Dannevirke Mitre 10 it is reducing seedling orders since demand has fallen off and Kildrummie Nursery is placing plants in shade and hand watering, reducing its daily use by 66 per cent.
Prenters Readymix Concrete and Aggregates has been severely affected not being able to obtain aggregate from the Dannevirke and Waipukurau quarries since early January due to water restrictions and now being forced to bring supplies in from the Manawatu¯ .
Its concrete operation continues but it cannot wash its trucks. Manager Rupert Bunny says they are currently planning to install a tank for use at the plant. No water is wasted down the stormwater drains as the water is recycled up to four times before being taken out to the quarry and filtered to be used again.
The Tararua Alliance has had to cease its road sweeping, footpath cleaning and roadside vegetation spraying until water restrictions are lifted.
Organisations which occasionally use water for oneoff events have decided to hold off for a while — Dannevirke High School postponing its popular Inter-Secondary Equestrian Competition.
Organiser Val Williams said it was not right to have riders and over 100 horses invited to the A&P Showgrounds when the town is in such short supply. She hopes to fit the competition in later in the year but fears the calendar is already full.
The Dannevirke Spinners and Weavers club has cancelled its annual dye day scheduled for March 7. President Tracy Bowie said they have been hit by a double whammy from nature — the dryness forcing both a fire ban and excess water use.
The club has been running its dye day for 46 years and is only one of two to still do it. It was not practical to postpone the day as the plants used to provide the dye are ready now. This has been a major fundraiser for the club and they hope to recoup in June when they hold a spin-in at The Hub.
Dannevirke has had just 5 millimetres of rain in six weeks.