Water tankers on the street
Water restrictors or tankers in the street may be introduced under ‘‘draconian’’ measures to cope with the long, dry spell that has created an extreme fire risk in Tasman.
As a 1600ha forest blaze scorched the hills above them, Tasman district councillors considered the possible introduction of the strict measures yesterday.
‘‘At the moment, with the weather forecast and where things are trending, there’s a good chance by the end of February that we’ll be into a cease-take situation for ... a lot of abstractions but obviously as a municipal scheme, we’ll be down to 80 per cent cuts, which is pretty significant and it’s going to require pretty significant measures on our part if we get to that stage,’’ council engineering services manager Richard Kirby told councillors.
He was speaking at an extraordinary full council meeting, called to discuss the proposed granting of urgent powers to staff to impose further water restrictions on properties connected to the council’s reticulated supply, amid growing concern a severe drought is likely. The council agreed to grant the urgent powers.
‘‘So, it’s going to be pretty draconian and may even be on the verge of a declaration to manage this,’’ Kirby said.
One of the potential options was the installation of restrictors at individual urban properties that would reduce the flow to a dribble.
‘‘They’ll still have water but won’t get it basically on demand,’’ Kirby said.
Water restrictions were first introduced on January 14 across parts of an already dry district. With no significant rain since then, the restrictions have become increasingly tougher and a hosing ban took effect on January 31 in several urban areas.
After the meeting, Kirby said some households were still irrigating. The council would be ‘‘looking at dealing directly’’ with these habitual breaches and installing a restrictor if the occupants did not stop.
The slow flow from a restrictor meant ‘‘you won’t be able to use your hose’’.
Council environment and planning manager Dennis BushKing said the last time the district was this dry was in mid to late March 2001.
The drought of 2000-01 caused the Waimea River to effectively run dry and sparked a discussion about water augmentation, which led to the $105.9m Waimea dam project that was recently given the nod.
However, BushKing said this drought was about six weeks ahead of the big dry of 2001. The water cuts were already at 50 per cent. ‘‘What do we do now? It will get to the point of salt starting to get sucked in.’’
During the meeting, Kirby outlined to councillors the threat of salination in the bores from which the council extracted water for its reticulation scheme to supply some key urban settlements including Richmond.
Cr Peter Canton asked if it would be more economical to cut off supply and provide water tankers than install restrictors.
Kirby said he would be coming back to the council in the next couple of weeks to discuss ‘‘how we actually do that’’.
Cr Dana Wensley asked about the potential effects on commercial and industrial users. Kirby said he was likely to come back to the council to discuss any measures that may affect large industries ‘‘that potentially could lay off [staff] or close down or anything’’.
There would be discussions around fairness.
‘‘If business out in the rural area with their own abstractions are having to cut back and in some cases cease take, it’s obviously better if people ... on the urban supply weather a bit of pain as well if not the same pain,’’ Kirby said. ‘‘It is going to be a challenging time and with some of those thorny ones, my intention is to come back to you.’’
There had already been discussions with some industries. With farmers destocking, the Alliance Group plant at Nelson – whose water is supplied by Tasman District Council – was ‘‘flat out’’.
‘‘So we’re going to have to weigh up – if we pinch them, then they won’t be able to take the stock and we’re going to have a problem out in the rural areas,’’ Kirby said.