localmatters.co.nz
February 19, 2020
Your locally-owned Community Newspaper FREE A helping hand – Silverdale lifestyle block owner Aischa Parker, left, is assisted by ASAP Water’s driver Rob McMillan to fill her 1000 litre container from the pump station. Aischa says with a six week wait to fill her home water tank, asking ASAP for help was the only way she could get water for her cattle.
Council wades in as water tanks run dry
Both Auckland Council and the Hibiscus Coast community are rallying to help people reliant on rainwater tanks that are running dry – as the paper goes to print, Auckland was due to notch up a record 40 consecutive days without rain. Although Government declared an official drought north of the harbour bridge last week, weather-wise the region has been in drought since late January (HM February 5). Unprecedented demand, and reduced
flow at filling stations, including temporary closure of the pumps by Watercare, has meant delays of up to six weeks in getting refills from water tanker operators. As the paper goes to print, all 11 of Watercare’s Auckland water tanker filling stations are open. All the tanker operators spoken to by Hibiscus Matters have significant wait lists and Healthy Water Tanks co-owner Garry Stephenson says all are working as fast as possible to keep up with demand.
He says a second outlet is needed at the 20-year-old Blue Gum pump station to speed up the filling process. Council’s Auckland Emergency Management team is coordinating the biggest ever council-wide response, along with Watercare, with initial efforts targeting mainly the rural sector. The first phase sees community centres being used as hubs for filling containers for domestic use, including Stanmore Bay Leisure Centre – more sites will be added.
Auckland Emergency Management general manager Kate Crawford says the next phase involves distributing 10,000 litre water tanks to locations that are still being finalised. These tanks will also be used to fill up domestic water containers. At the same time, council is working with private suppliers from the country’s milk tanker fleet to see what tankers can be made available to assist. “Importantly, the focus of this initiative will be to work with private operators, continued p2