Auckland drought: Little sign of relief for declining water supply

Monday, 25 May 2020

Further water restrictions were imposed as Auckland dams fell to critical levels in May 2020.

Major water users in Auckland are beginning to shift production out of the region, and make other changes, with forecasts offering little relief for the city's worsening drought.

Behind the household and outdoor-focussed bans, the council company Watercare said some of its 100 biggest users had cut consumption by up to 30 per cent.

Storage dams had fallen to 42.5 per cent on Monday, with weekend rain making little difference despite a sharp dip in consumption on Sunday, to 388 million litres - well below the target of 420.

'We need rain, and it has not come,' was the blunt assessment by Raveen Jaduram, the CEO of Watercare, referring to this year's fall of only 40 per cent of normal.

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Climate science agency NIWA was holding out little hope of foreseeable change in the dry spell, and the recent rain was only a small help.

An emptying Lower Nihotupu Dam near Parau in the Waitakere Ranges

'To put it in perspective, if you are $100,000 in a hole and you win a $5,000 scratchy it's helpful - but what's fallen is pretty much it for now,' Chris Brandolino, the principle scientist, told RNZ.

'It'll be an unsettled week which is good news but we need an extended period - weeks of unsettled weather - to start turning things around,' he said.

Brandolino said his gut feeling was that there might not be a big shift until late winter or early spring, if a possible change in patterns occurs in the Indian Ocean.

Raveen Jaduram, the CEO of Watercare at a media conference on the need for water restrictions in Auckland.

Jaduram hoped access to a bigger take from the Waikato River, which currently supplies 30 per cent of the city's needs, could advance on Tuesday when the Hamilton City Council considers whether to transfer to Auckland, water consents from the river, in excess of what it can treat.

Watercare would be ready to take a further 25 million litres a day from the river in August, but that would still amount to only six per cent of the reduced consumption goal of 400 million litres a day.

Aucklanders currently face Level 1 restrictions, largely banning outdoor use, and these would escalate to Level 2, banning most park and paddock irrigation when dam levels fall to 40 per cent.

Jaduram said more important than the level of restriction was the 'invisible bit' - the commitment being shown by major users in the food and beverage industry.

'They are very much engaged, which is a great feeling - they understand the impact is going to be huge on them,' Jaduram told Stuff.

'Some are moving production to facilities outside Auckland so they can move the burden beyond the Auckland water supply - some are adjusting scheduled maintenance to fit in with us,' he said.

Jaduram said forecasts were 'all over the place' with rain forecast month after month but never happening, and even a Friday forecast of 50-70mm for the Hunua catchment, ended up at 25mm.

The prospects for Auckland remained uncertain, with Jaduram pointing out that while the supply standard was to cope with a one-in-200-year drought, there was nothing to say it might not happen again next year.

Without a repeat of the heavy rain last year that fell between August and December, ending a long dry spell, restrictions could continue for a long time in the city.