Watercare chair Margaret Devlin says Aucklanders are to be commended for their water savings in June, achieving an average daily water usage of 402 million litres a day against a target of 410 million litres a day or less. This result was 38 million litres per day less than expected for June.

“I would like to thank Aucklanders for their water savings efforts over the past month,” says Devlin. “It shows people understand the impact of the drought on our city’s water supply and are motivated to do their bit while our dams recover.”

The rolling 7-day water usage target for July is 409 million litres a day or less. Devlin says that while it is slightly tougher than the June target, Aucklanders have already demonstrated they can achieve it.

“The challenge for everyone in July is to sustain the behavior changes they’ve already made – keep having shorter showers; keep the tap off when brushing teeth; and keep using washing machines and dishwashers efficiently.”

The next four weeks is forecast to be drier than normal, with occasional rain events. The rain event at the end of June saw the volume of water stored in Auckland’s dams climb from 44.89% on Wednesday 24 June to 55.35% on 1 July. Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says Aucklanders water-savings efforts combined with the rain over the past week has helped boost the water supply in the dams and shows that people understand how serious the situation is.

“However, the water crisis is far from over—the situation remains critical so it’s important that everyone continues to make savings wherever possible. Every litre we save this winter is a litre more we will have come summer. This is all the more important given long-term weather forecasts of a drier than normal winter and spring.”

While Watercare has set an Auckland-wide water usage target for July of 405 million litres a day or less, the company is still asking people to reduce their water use indoors by 20 litres a day – two bucketsful.

How to reduce your water use at home

• Spend two minutes less in the shower: save around 24 litres
• Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth: save around 4 litres
• When possible, use the half flush on the toilet: save around 6 litres
• Wash one less load of laundry a week: save around 122 litres

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