Yesterday, the Waitaki District Council issued an urgent warning to Oamaru water supply users — residents and businesses in Oamaru, Weston, Hampden, Herbert, Enfield and south to Moeraki — that without dramatic reductions in water use, the treated water supply would be depleted in two days. On Thursday, the council issued a notice to conserve water after 8500 cubic metres of water was used the day before. Despite the notice, water use spiked to 10,500cu m on Thursday.
Yesterday, council staff hastily posted 150 "essential water use only" flyers around town and outlying areas.
Council assets group manager Neil Jorgensen said the matter was urgent.
"The message isn’t getting through, and if we carry on at that rate, we’ve got about two days of water left. And then we’d have to start delivering untreated water, which means everyone would have to boil their water, including businesses [and] cafes," Mr Jorgensen said.
"It’s quite serious."
The council believed four days of essential use only would "get us through", Mr Jorgensen said.
Last week’s rain caused the water entering the Oamaru treatment plant to be three times dirtier than it had ever been in the past, Mr Jorgensen said.
The turbidity affecting the supply had now dropped, but during the rain storm it was the most turbid the council had dealt with.
Previously, the most turbid water the council had dealt with was 50 nephelometric turbidity units (ntu) — during the rain it exceeded 150ntu.
In a statement yesterday, the council said further to the conserve water notice, the water supply was turned off to Kakanui township and surrounds; the Herbert area, including Waianakarua; Hampden township and the surrounding area; and the booster pump supplying Moeraki and the surrounding area.
What not to do
The Waitaki District Council’s wish list for this weekend:
• No clothes washing
• No car washing
• No using dishwashers
• No watering plants
• Limited toilet flushing
• Only use water if it is absolutely necessary
