Dunedin residents are being asked not to water their gardens for three days, or at least put it off a few days, as the city council grapples with a problem in its mains water supply pipelines.
A break in the Deep Stream pipeline, one of two that provide the city's main water supply, means the pipe be closed down for a few days for repair.
However, it coincides with the closure of the other main pipeline, the Deep Creek pipe, for a programmed upgrade of its intake - which can happen only when river flows are low.
The result was both pipelines would be closed and the city would draw water from the 370,000cu m Brockville reservoir in the meantime.
Dunedin City Council water production manager Gerard McCombie said the reservoir was well-stocked, but the last thing the council needed now was spike in demand, and people were asked to cut back on watering gardens so an adequate supply of water was maintained.
The intake work should only take three days, but the leak might take longer to fix, he said.
''For this reason, it would be appreciated if people could reduce their water usage by either delaying or cutting back on watering their gardens this week.''
