Good support for water restrictions to date

The support of Christchurch residents in complying with the outdoor watering restrictions that have been in place in the City and Lyttelton Harbour communities since October 2011, has saved around 18,000,000 litres of water per day (equivalent to 7 Olympic swimming pools/day).

Council City Water and Waste Manager Mark Christison thanked residents for their support of the restrictions. “We would like to thank the community for their understanding shown to-date, but ask people to remember that the real challenge for keeping summer water demand under control will occur over the next 6 - 8 weeks through January and February,” he says.

“If everyone plays their part and subject to no further large aftershocks we should be able to get through the summer on the current level of restrictions (hand held watering on alternate days).”

Mr Christison says that the issue is not about the amount of water in the aquifers below the city, but rather the network’s ability to pull this water up from the aquifers and deliver it around the city to meet the peak demands during the summer season. Mr Christison says these summer peaks are three to four times the size of the average winter demand and this increase is due almost solely to outdoor irrigation use.

“Normally reservoirs help to buffer the heaviest demand days but the city has lost its largest reservoir (32,000 m3 at Huntsbury). To-date we have managed to replace this with a 6,000m3 structure. This means the city has lost key storage at a time when water demand is at its peak. New wells are starting to come on line and this is helping to restore capacity in the water supply system.

“The damage to our water infrastructure is serious and whilst we are making good progress in restoring assets to service we need the continued support of our residents in limiting outdoor water use in line with the Level 3 restrictions.”

Water breaks caused by the December 23 aftershock have been repaired and crews are working on smaller leaks as they are identified across the city. Residents are asked to phone the Customer Call Centre on (03) 941 8999 if they notice wet patches on roadways or footpaths.

The Level 3 water restrictions currently in place mean:

Unattended hoses, sprinklers and garden irrigation systems are not permitted at any time.
No outdoor water use on Mondays.