Urgent work to replace a leaking water main supplying Tāneatua’s reservoirs will require a community water conservation effort from Monday, 29 June to Wednesday, 1 July.

The replacement will require water pumping to the reservoirs to be shut down for at least six hours on Tuesday, 30 June, but before that work can start, the reservoirs need to be as close to full as possible to ensure that the supply of water to the town is not affected.

Whakatāne District Council Manager 3 Waters, Santha Agas, says the conservation effort is a precaution to guard against the possibility that pumping to the reservoirs may not be able to resume in the expected timeframe.

“If there was a delay in completing the work programme, that could see the reservoir storage reduced to a level which would affect the water supply, so we are asking the Tāneatua community to take a precautionary approach and reduce their water usage from Monday onwards, until the system is back to normal operation.”

The Council apologises for any inconvenience experienced while this essential maintenance work is undertaken.