Welly water ban ‘within a week’

Wellingtonians could face further water restrictions within a week if they do not curb their usage.

The next stage of restrictions would see a ban on all outdoor water use, Wellington Water treatment plants manager Jeremy McKibbin said, meaning residents could not use hoses for washing cars or filling pools.

A sprinkler ban has been in place for a week, but usage continues to outstrip supply, causing Wellington Water to draw increasingly from the city’s emergency supply lakes at Te Marua in Upper Hutt. The lakes usually remain untapped until late January. One of the two lakes has already been drained of more than a tenth of its supply.

Meanwhile, the level of the Hutt River has been dropping by 4 million litres a day.

After a promising dip in usage over the weekend, which saw volumes drop just below or close to the 160m-litre daily target, it leapt back up to 175m litres on Monday.

McKibbin said usage would have to stay at 160m litres or below consistently if further restrictions were to be avoided.

‘‘Everything extra above that target is coming from the lakes,’’ he said. ‘‘Everyone needs to do their bit.’’

Warning letters for residents in high-use suburbs are due to be sent out next week.

A Wellington Water spokesman said council call centres had received more than 60 calls from residents dobbing in their neighbours for using sprinklers, and many more complaining about golf and bowling clubs being liberal with their watering.

‘‘These are valuable assets, that club members own and pay to maintain,’’ the spokesman said. ‘‘We ask them to be mindful of their position in the community, and how it looks to others.

‘‘They should minimise their watering regime, and water at night, rather than during the day. This reduces evaporation, and the frustration others see at water being wasted. We’re getting in touch with the region’s bowling and golf clubs to remind them of this.’’

Meanwhile, a persistently leaky valve in Belmont has angered one Lower Hutt resident.

Colleen Upton, general manager of Hutt Gas & Plumbing Systems, said she had called Hutt City Council six times since Friday to have the valve repaired.

‘‘It’s running 24 hours a day. At the moment it’s dripping, but at times it gushes.

‘‘It’s got so bad it covers the road. I can’t water my gardens at home. This is disgusting.’’

Wellington Water said the problem was a leaking back-flow prevention valve supplying two commercial properties.

‘‘It was installed last week, and appears to have been leaking since then.

‘‘We’ve been in touch with the businesses, who have assured us they have contacted their plumbers – we have followed up today and are on the way out to contact them again this afternoon.’’

Wellington had the seconddriest November on record, according to MetService, with figures showing no significant rainfall in almost a month.

‘‘Kelburn has had a run of 23 consecutive dry days, the 10thlongest dry spell of any month on records since 1928,’’ meteorologist Lisa Murray said. New aerial photos of the $850 million Transmission Gully motorway out of Wellington show the massive scale of the project. Hobby pilots Leo Cooney and Ross Williamson, from the Manawatu¯ Aviation Club, flew over the site on Sunday and took photos looking north from Pauatahanui past Battle Hill towards Paeka¯ka¯riki (top) and looking south towards Tawa (above). ‘‘This is a huge project and these photos show the enormity of the earthworks and bridging that will be involved,’’ Cooney said. The fourlane, 27-kilometre-long motorway between northern Wellington and the Ka¯piti Coast is expected to open in April 2020. The New Zealand Transport Agency has begun investigating the idea of a toll for the new stretch of highway.