Wellington Water downgrades risk of harshest restrictions

Thursday, 18 January 2024

Long queues for council subsidised water tanks have caused councils in the Wellington are to ramp up supply as water restrictions continue

Chances of worsening water restrictions have reduced significantly, according to Wellington Water’s latest update.

The probability of Wellington heading to Level 3 restrictions has reduced from 76% to 60%. Level 4 restrictions have also reduced in probability from 33% to 23%.

In its latest update, a statement from Wellington Water said the reduction was due to NIWA’s “slightly improved climate outlook”, as well as the aquifer and storage lakes still being at healthy levels.

“As we get closer to the end of summer we expect to see the overall chance of tighter water restrictions further reduce.”

The restriction have caused anxiety and frustration across the region as Wellingtonians prepare for the worst.

Advice was given to set up water storage facilities for homes in case the situation deteriorated, which has left the supplies of water tanks stretched.

At Wellington City Council’s last water tank supply drop, people had waited in the hot sun for up to four hours to get their hands on one of the 60 on offer.

Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said the water tank situation was getting better.

“We're expecting another delivery of about 90 tanks this week. Now that the company is back in full production, we're just going to get regular deliveries for the foreseeable future.”

Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said demand for water tanks still remained very high.

Inquiries about water tanks were still high.

In Porirua the demand has been so high the council has set up a pre-order system.

In the past six weeks, the council sold 102 of the 200 litre tanks, compared to just 16 over the same period the previous year.

Porirua mayor Anita Baker said the tanks had been “flying out the door” with the contact centre receiving up to 100 calls a day.

“Last week our contact centre was receiving about 100 calls a day about the tanks.

The council had increased its tank order, which would see 90 tanks delivered each week until the end of February.

'While we are working hard with Wellington Water to fix leaks, we all need to play our part by following water restrictions, reducing our water use and having an emergency water supply,' said Baker.