As summer officially kicks off, Watercare is reminding Aucklanders that every drop counts when it comes to water use.

Watercare head of water Sharon Danks says the region’s water supply is in great shape heading into the warmer months – but water use can rise dramatically when temperatures rise.

“It’s been a very wet winter and spring for Auckland. In July we celebrated our total dam storage reaching 100 per cent full and it has stayed very close to that mark since then.

“Having our dams almost full is a fantastic way to start summer. But when the heat hits, water use skyrockets. On really hot days, Auckland can use up to 100 million litres more than usual, and most of that extra water is going on gardens and lawns.”

Danks says those spikes put pressure on treatment plants and the water network.

“We’d love everyone to keep an eye on their water use. Look out for our ‘Every Drop Counts’ campaign on social media and our website. We’ll have easy ideas to help you save water without sacrificing summer fun.”

While weather forecasters expect near-normal or above-normal rainfall overall during summer, there could still be long dry spells.

Tracking down leaks

Watercare crews will be working hard to find and fix leaks over summer.

“Our water network includes more than 11,000 kilometres of pipes. To put that in perspective, laid end to end, they’d stretch from Auckland to Vancouver. So leaks are inevitable,” Danks says.

“We tend to see more leaks over summer because the ground dries out and moves, which can crack pipes. Right now we’re well on top of leaks, and because of the wet weather, we haven’t yet seen a big spike. But our teams are ready for an increase, and will be fixing the big ones first to minimise water loss as much as possible.

“Aucklanders can do their bit to help too. If you see a leak when you’re out and about, jump on watercare.co.nz and report it, or give us a call. And don’t forget to check your own property for leaks too.”

Top tips for making every drop count this summer:

• Keep showers short – aim for four minutes or less. If you shower twice on hot days, make them two minutes each.
• Swap sprinklers for water pistols, reusable water balloons or a small paddling pool for the kids.
• Fit a trigger nozzle to your garden hose to avoid waste.
• Water your garden early or late in the day to minimise evaporation.
• Check your home for leaks.

Notes:

• Live dam levels at the time of publish/broadcast can be found at: https://www.watercare.co.nz/home/about-us/what-we-do/water-collection-treatment-and-monitoring/water-levels-of-the-dams
• Watercare’s rain gauges in the Waitākere and Hūnua ranges recorded between 30 and 42 per cent more rain than normal, respectively, over winter and spring.
• On Monday mornings over summer, we’ll be sending out weekly water supply updates to your newsroom.
• Jpegs attached: Waitākere Dam, Lower Huia Dam and Mangatangi Dam – all currently 100 per cent full. Campaign banner also attached.

About Watercare:

• Every day, we supply about 440 million litres of safe drinking water to 1.7 million people in Auckland. We also collect and treat their wastewater.
• Over the next 10 years, we will carry out more than 1000 projects to improve and expand our water and wastewater infrastructure – investing an average of $3.8 million every day ($13.8 billion in total).
• Our infrastructure investment programme will help to keep our precious environment healthy by reducing the frequency of wastewater overflows onto land and into waterways.

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