Water restrictions likely

Invercargill district residents may see restrictions on hosing and sprinklers as soon as next week. The overall outlook for February is for dry conditions to continue, meaning it is increasingly probable that water restrictions will be imposed in Invercargill and Bluff. Invercargill City Council infrastructure group manager Erin Moogan said if the O¯ reti River flow continues to drop, unattended hosing or sprinkler use would be prohibited. Under council’s permit to draw water there was a condition set by Environment Southland to apply water conservation measures according to the river’s flow. The first trigger for conservation measures is when the flow falls to, or below 4 cubic metres per second. The second trigger is set at 3.2 cubic metres per second. As of Thursday, the O¯ reti River flow at Riverton Highway Bridge is at 5.87 cubic metres per second. Moogan said all domestic unattended hosing and sprinklers would be prohibited when the first trigger point was reached, which could happen as early as next week. This means hand-held watering of gardens and no sprinkler use.