Environment Southland staff are stepping up monitoring of water levels across the region as concern about dry conditions rises.
Water shortage response levels have been moved to status two.
Environment Southland science general manager Karen Wilson said the shift to status two meant staff would be expanding their existing monitoring programme to examine the ongoing water situation for the region.
The council’s water shortage advisory team will be increasing assessments of water levels, soil moisture and groundwater states, as well as analysis of short and long-range weather forecasts.
The monitoring results will be published and the staff will be working with territorial authorities, Te Ao Mārama Inc and key user groups, to consider how they can conserve water.
"We are slowly getting drier and current monitored levels of some rivers are starting to get low," Ms Wilson said.
Earth Sciences New Zealand (ESNZ) were predicting less rainfall in late January and early February.
There was no immediate concern for the main water supplies or rivers in the next few weeks, but ESNZ’s long-term forecasts show rivers will continue to drop over the next month.
At present, the worst affected rivers are near the Hokonui Hills, particularly the Ōtapiri Stream and Makarewa River.
Further information on low water levels can be found on Environment Southland’s website. — Allied Media
