It's United Nations World Water Day March 22nd. This year's theme is 'Water for peace'
Throughout the summer, despite being towns of a similar size, Cambridge has been consistently using more water than Te Awamutu and the rest of the District.
Waipa District Council’s group manager service delivery Barry Bergin said Cambridge residents have definitely been using the most water throughout the summer.
“On Tuesday 19 January we saw the biggest consumption day across the District and on this day alone, Cambridge use went through the roof – using a massive 3 million litres of water more than Te Awamutu.”
Recordings show that despite Water Alert Level 2 being in place, on 19 January Cambridge used 14.9 million litres of water . This compares to 11.8 million litres of water being used in Te Awamutu.
“14.9 million litres is a huge amount for one day – that means that Cambridge alone has used the same amount of water that it takes to fill 21 Olympic sized swimming pools” said Mr Bergin.
Waipa District Council moved to Water Alert Level Three on Thursday which means a complete ban on sprinkler use for Waipa residents. Hand-held hosing can be used at any time.
Mr Bergin said Council has received about ten calls from residents reporting others that are not following the water restrictions.
“The Cambridge community does appear to be keeping an eye out for people that aren’t being quite so smart with water. So far we have received around 10 water concern calls from Cambridge which compares to only one from Te Awamutu. All of these calls have been around others using sprinklers out of the restricted times.”
Last summer, Cambridge did not move to Water Alert Level 3.
Cambridge receives its water from the Karapiro Treatment Plant (using water from the Waikato River), the Hicks Road Springs and during summer, the Alpha Street Treatment Plant is also used.
About Smart Water Starts with You!
The Smart Water Starts with You! sub-regional summer campaign aims to make long-term change to how we use water and is a joint venture between Waikato District Council, Hamilton City Council, and Waipa District Council.
For more information on the campaign and for tips on saving water visit www.smartwater.org.nz
For more information contact:
Natalie Palmer
Communication Manager
Waipa District Council
027 807 3174