With the country's biggest city continuing to face a water shortage, Aucklanders are being urged to limit their outdoor water use during the nationwide lockdown.
The city's storage levels are currently at 53 percent, says Raveen Jaduram, chief executive of Watercare. Normally at this time of the year they are three-quarters full.
"It is concerning," Jaduram told The Am Show on Monday. "Which is why I would like Aucklanders to think very carefully before turning their taps on."
The city's storage lakes in the Hunua and Waitakere Ranges had received 65 percent less rain than normal since the start of the year, said Jaduram.
While it's important that using water for hygiene reasons, such as washing hands, should continue as usual, making the most of being stuck at home by doing chores such as washing the car or water blasting is a no-no, he said.
"This is not the time"
"We encourage everyone to keep washing their hands but we want them to limit their outdoor use."
Despite the shortage there are no official restrictions in place, but Aucklanders are still being asked to be sensible with their usage.
Putting official restrictions in place during a time when the country is already in lockdown due to the spread of of COVID-19 would be counterproductive, said Jaduram
"People are very anxious and worried," he said. "At Watercare we don't want to add to the stress by putting restrictions. Aucklanders have been great at listening to our heed to reduce their water demand in the past."
Earlier this year a campaign by Watercare urged Aucklanders to cut their shower time to four minutes. Jaduram echoed that request and also encouraged people to use their washing machines and dishwashers at full loads and to refrain from using the hose around the house.
"Please don't wash your car, please don't wash the house, please don't waterblast."
In February - during the high of summer - the city used a record 561 million lites on water in one day - up from the 2019 daily average usage of 440 million litres.
