Rangiora may have no water

Press, 7 March 1978, Page 1

Rangiora may have no water

Rangiora might run out of water within the next 10 days?. The Town Clerk (Mr A. F. Rapley) said that if the water level in the town’s aquifer continued to drop at its present rate the town might be out of water bv late next week.

“In the last six davs the wells have dropped a further 0.2 of a metre which has resulted in the borough losing the • pumning capacity of two of the six submersible pumps,” he said yesterday. The Rangiora Borough Council yesterday introduced further water restrictions. Residents may now water their gardens only with hand-held hoses.

Sprinklers are banned. Last Saturday the council imposed restrictions allowing residents to water their gardens only every second day.

“The response to our request to save water has been tremendous,” Mr Rapley said. “Unfortunately although consumption has dropped. Nature seems to be taking over. If dry weather continues things could become reallv serious.”

To ease the shortage the council was considering creating two more sources of supply in the borough. However, these would have to be cleared by the health inspectorate before they could be tapped. Mr Rapley said.