• Aucklanders are being urged to take short showers and limit sprinkler use among other conservation strategies as dam levels drop. 
• Watercare activated its drought management plan with dam levels at 66.5%, below the 78.4% average. 
• Mark Bourne said small water-saving actions could prevent mandatory restrictions despite a dry forecast. 

Aucklanders are being encouraged to take short showers and limit using sprinklers as the city goes on drought alert. 

Ongoing dry weather has pushed the levels of the region’s dams down, prompting regional water company Watercare to activate its drought management plan. 

Dam levels were at 66.5% on Wednesday. The historical average for this time of year is 78.4%, Watercare said. 

Aucklanders have been asked to take showers under four minutes long, use a trigger nozzle on hoses while watering gardens, limit playing in sprinklers and use water pistols, balloons or small paddling pools instead, and limit watering gardens to early morning or late evening. 

Watercare’s chief operations officer Mark Bourne said: “We’re encouraging Aucklanders to continue to be mindful of their water use. They’ve been doing a fantastic job over summer, so we’re really just asking everyone to keep up the great work. 

“If we all do something small to keep our water use down, we can further reduce the likelihood of needing water restrictions if the weather turns out to be drier than forecast,” Bourne said. 

Mayor Wayne Brown said he was “satisfied” Watercare had the matter under control and was taking appropriate action. 

Brown said: “Watercare has notified my office and Auckland councillors that the total storage in Auckland’s drinking water supply dams has just dropped into the ‘preparing for a drought’ zone in its drought management plan.” 

Auckland gets up to two-thirds of its water from the Hūnua dam catchments, Watercare said. 

This summer, the rainfall in the catchments was 27% less than normal. 

The Waitākere catchments got less than half the normal rainfall, Watercare said. 

Bourne said people need not be alarmed. 

“While our total dam storage has dropped below where we’d normally like it to be at this time of year, it’s still looking highly unlikely that we’d need to look at mandatory water restrictions in the next few months,” Bourne said. 

Mayor Wayne Brown said he was "satisfied" Watercare had Auckland's water management under control and was taking appropriate action amid drought. Photo / Alex Burton 

“The most recent weather forecast we’ve received signals March could be fairly dry, but rainfall is likely to return to normal for the rest of autumn. Winter has the potential to be wetter than normal.” 

Bourne said he had assembled a team at Watercare to manage the three levers of drought management; increasing supply, reducing demand and optimising the water network. 

“We’re continuing to produce more water at our Waikato water treatment plants, which treat water from the Waikato River. This slows the rate of decline of our dams.” 

And Bourne said maintenance crews “are doing a fantastic job” fixing leaking pipes. 

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.