Driest March in 15 years for Auckland’s dam catchments

Auckland’s dam levels have dropped below 60 per cent after their catchments in the Hūnua and Waitākere Ranges experienced the driest March since 2010.

Today, Auckland’s total storage in its water supply dams is 59.7 per cent, compared to the historical average of 74.8 per cent for this time of year.

Head of water Sharon Danks says the catchments received less than a third of normal rainfall for March.

“Our Hūnua Ranges catchments, where we have our largest dams, received only 29 millimetres of rain in March, where normally we’d expect to see about 110 millimetres.

“Likewise in west Auckland, the Waitākere dam catchments received just 28.5 millimetres in March, compared to the historical average of 108 millimetres.

“We haven’t seen a March this dry since 2010, so we’re again urging Aucklanders to be mindful of their water use, particularly outdoors.”

Danks says news that the North Island can expect rain over Thursday and Friday is welcome.

“It’s great news that there’s rain coming in the next few days, but given the dry weather we’ve experienced for several months now, the soil is incredibly dry and we expect it to absorb a lot of that rain. We’re not expecting a significant uplift to Auckland’s dam levels.

“With the forecast for rain, we’re asking Aucklanders to please turn off any irrigation systems today so you’re not watering your gardens unnecessarily.”

Auckland councillor Richard Hills, chair of the policy and planning committee, says: “Watercare is keeping us well informed on the situation, they’re fixing leaks in record time and their water savings messages are working well.

“But we are relying on all Aucklanders to help out by reporting leaks and continuing to prevent water wastage. If we all do our bit, we can make a huge difference."

Auckland remains in the ‘preparing for drought’ zone in our Drought Management Plan.

Danks says, we are doing everything possible to slow the rate of decline in the dams and reduce the likelihood of mandatory water restrictions.

“We’ve increased production at our two Waikato plants to 200 million litres of water a day. This means we can reduce production at our Ardmore and Huia water treatment plants, and ease a bit of pressure on the water supply dams.

“This week we also opened our new non-potable water filling station, which allows commercial customers to use untreated bore water for things like dust suppression or stormwater network flushing. It’s great to have this facility available so that we’re not using Auckland’s high quality drinking water when it’s not needed.”

Auckland’s seven-day average water demand is currently 472 million litres per day.

“We still want to see Auckland’s water use come down further – and any rain that comes in the next few days will likely play a part in that,” Danks says.

“Even if you’re not out watering your garden, you can do your bit to help by simply taking a shorter shower. If we all cut our shower times by just one minute, we’d save about 20 million litres of water a day.”

If Auckland’s water demand stays at current levels, and there’s little rain over April and May, we may need to implement water restrictions in early June.