Tasman’s Dry Weather Taskforce has implemented water restrictions for the first time this summer, with consent holders in the Motupiko and Rainy water management zones moving to stage one cuts from next week.

Stage 1 rationing, which is a 20% cut from authorised weekly usage, will begin from Monday 23 February 2026.

Regular rainfall across the District in recent weeks has been enough to avert water restrictions for all water users to date.

As of Tuesday, February 17 both the Waimea and Wai-iti Dams are full and the Cobb dam was 90 % full.

Despite localised rainfall in parts of Golden Bay and the Richmond/ Waimea area earlier in the week, the Motupiko did not receive any meaningful boost to its river flow.

The Motupiko/Rainy Zone is the only Zone that the trigger flows have dropped below consultation level of 400 litres per second (l/s) and had dropped to 340 l/s by Tuesday morning.

The long-term weather forecast indicates only minor rainfall over the next 10 – 14 days. Considering this likelihood as well as the average drop in river flow of 10 – 15 litres per day, The Motupiko/Rainy Stage 1 trigger of 250 l/s would be reached sometime next week.

No other water management zones are affected by these restrictions – this includes other consent holders and Council-managed reticulated water supplies which are subject to alternative and different restriction criteria.

Staff will continue to monitor river flows, groundwater and soil moisture levels in the coming days.

This week’s decision will be reviewed by the Dry Weather Taskforce on Tuesday 24 February, 2026 to ascertain the need for continued or further measures.

You can keep up to date with groundwater and river flow data by visiting our environmental data portal www.tasman.govt.nz/my-region/environment/environmental-data-portal .

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