Dwindling dam holds back city crisis | Northland News | Local News in Northland

There's no rain in sight for Whangarei over the rest of this month and officials are keeping an anxious watch on the city's dwindling water supplies.

The Whau Valley dam, which usually provides 70 per cent of the city supply, is usually about 83 per cent full at this time of year.

But with lower than average rainfall over the past nine months, it was only 68.5 per cent full toward the end of last month, when it was providing about 35 per cent of the city supply.

And Whangarei District Council water services manager Andrew Venmore said yesterday the level was now down to just over 64 per cent.

But with the dam still at nearly two-thirds capacity, the Maunu and Poroti springs supplying most of the city's water, and the Hatea River as a back-up, Whangarei is "holding up" well.

"We're lucky to have the dam. It is delaying the approach of the dire situation affecting some parts of the Far North, although we are moving in that direction," Mr Venmore said.

Whangarei residents were being asked to conserve water, but no mandatory restrictions on water use had yet been imposed.

Mr Venmore said weather forecasts, with no rain predicted for Whangarei over the next 10 days and little hope of the drought breaking this month, was a concern.

While some of the water level reduction in the Whau Valley dam could be clawed back if rain fell in April, the city had been missing out in recent patchy rainfall.

"There was 30-40mm of rain at Poroti last week but nothing in town," Mr Venmore said. "There was a lot of rain at Onerahi a few weeks ago but none at the dam."