How you can prepare for dry weather
As a drinking water supplier, it’s important to be prepared for dry weather conditions. Here are some tips to help.
- Review your Drinking Water Safety Plan (DWSP) and/or any drought planning you have in place.
- A reminder to submit your updated DWSP to us via Hinekōrako whenever you make changes.
- Engage with any large water consumers you supply to encourage them to prepare for possible dry weather and consider how they can reduce their use of drinking water.
- Have a clear plan in place for how you’ll communicate any water restrictions to consumers.
- Make sure you’re clear on the low flow conditions of your surface water take consents. Contact your regional council if you have any questions about consents.
- Consider how low flow conditions could affect the quality of water being abstracted or provided.
For council suppliers: You may also want to consider how low flow conditions could impact other network operations, for example wastewater systems.
If dry weather impacts your water supply
We’re committed to ensuring all communities have access to safe and reliable drinking water every day.
If dry weather conditions in your area are likely to impact your ability to provide safe and sufficient drinking water, we encourage:
- council suppliers to inform us early
- smaller suppliers to inform your local council early.
We also encourage all suppliers to engage as early as possible with:
- your consumers
- Fire and Emergency New Zealand
- anyone else you provide drinking water to, for example water carriers.
This enables us all to work together to ensure everyone has a sufficient supply of drinking water.
How to stay up to date on forecast weather conditions and potential impacts in your area
NIWA has several tools that you can use to stay up to date on weather conditions and impacts near you. These include:
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Online tool |
What it’s for |
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Shows areas where dryness or drought are predicted over the next 35 days |
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Tracks drought conditions across New Zealand |
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Provides air temperature, rainfall, soil moisture and river flow predictions for the coming season |
You can also learn more about Drought and El Niño and La Niña more generally on NIWA’s website.
For rural communities, the Ministry for Primary Industries has produced information on preparing for El Niño.