Water restrictions to ease
A major pipe leak that severely dropped Waipukurau’s water supplylevel last week has been isolated
Restrictions have been eased after a “major” pipe leak last week that caused Waipukurau’s water supply to drop to critical levels. Such was the emergency on Wednesday morning that emergency services took to the streets with loudspeakers about 6.30am to urge people to conserve water.
The wider township — which has a population of about 4000 — relies on the Pukeora Reservoir for its water supply ,which dropped to a worrying 25 per cent capacity that morning.
It’s usually at between 70 and 90 per cent.
Central Hawke’s Bay District Council put Level 4 water restrictions in place, which is a total outdoor water ban, as they scrambled to find the leak.
The leak was found in an underground pipe along Pōrangahau Rd which is set to be decommissioned in the coming year.
The pipe no longer supplies water to any homes but is still connected to the reservoir and is used to supply water for firefighters.
Workers were able to turn off the supply to that pipe and stop the leak once it had been located.
“The team has isolated and found a major water leak — in the process of fixing [the problem],” mayor Alex Walker said, in an update on
Wednesday night.
“The leak was letting the water out really quickly.
“I need to thank everyone for the way they have been helping conserve water — every drop has counted.”
The reservoir was back to normal levels, above 70 per cent capacity, on Wednesday night.
Level 2 water restrictions were in place, as of this morning.
The restrictions mean sprinklers and hoses are to be used on alternate days for a maximum of one hour, and not between the hours of 9am and 5pm (sprinklers) and 10m and 4pm (hoses).
There are sensors on an outlet pipe from the reservoir and also a sensor which measures the overall capacity of the reservoir, which both set off alarms for the council.
A debrief will be held by the council to see what needs to be improved in future.