Level 3 Water Restrictions for Gore

Gore will move to Level 3 water restrictions, effective from midnight, following a significant drop in water levels in the town’s two main wells.

Mataura has been on Level 3 water restrictions since early January.

Our 3 Waters Operational Manager Aaron Green said the water levels at Cooper’s Wells and Jacobstown had plummeted over the last couple of weeks.

“The continued hot weather has increased Gore’s daily water usage, which has put pressure on the wells.”

The Jacobstown Well’s water level was at 1.2 metres, down from 1.4 metres two weeks ago. Cooper’s Well was much the same, sitting at 2 metres, down from 2.4 metres.

The drop in well water levels matches the continued fall in the Mataura River’s water flow. It was currently at 11.21 cubic metres per second.

Level 3 restrictions include the following rules:

• No watering of grass areas
• Watering of trees, flower and vegetable gardens only by hand-held hose for a maximum of two hours each day, between either 7:00am – 9:00am or 7:00pm – 9:00pm
• Cars, boats, caravans and trailers – only windows, mirrors, lights and registration plates can be cleaned and only using a bucket.
• Commercial users can only clean vehicles and trailers for regulatory, health, safety and emergency reasons

Our parks and reserves team will be reducing its daytime watering. Under Level 3, the Council can water lawns, flower gardens, trees and shrubs by any method between 9:00pm and 6:00am.

Parks Manager Keith McRobie said staff would closely monitor the situation and reduce water use as much as possible.

For more details about the our water restrictions, visit our water restrictions page here.