Queenstown’s council has put water restrictions in place, with immediate effect.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council said this evening it had implemented water restrictions for the district, and was asking the community to conserve water as much as possible.

The water alert level 1 restrictions require residents and visitors to:

- Keep hand-held hosing to a minimum at all times

- Only use irrigation sprinklers between midnight and 6am when general demand is at its lowest.

QLDC Infrastructure Operations Manager Simon Mason said local networks were seeing significant demand as a result of the sustained warm dry weather, putting pressure on supply.

“We have observed extended periods where water is being drawn from the networks’ reservoirs faster than it can be replaced, which obviously isn’t sustainable and can compromise the volume of water available to respond to an emergency, such as a fire or system failure.

“By taking a few simple steps now everyone can help ensure that the network remains in good shape, especially with the hot weather forecast to stick around.”

“We’ll continue to monitor the situation and will remove the restrictions once demand has fallen to more sustainable levels. I’d like to thank the local community in advance for their co-operation. We’ll be providing further updates when things change.”

Residents and visitors are also being asked to check Fire Emergency New Zealand’s (FENZ) safety tool before letting off fireworks, due to heightened fire risk as a result of the hot and dry weather.

More information about water restriction levels and why they are needed can be found on the QLDC website here.