Plenty of water at Riki Springs

The flow of water from Raglan’s drinking source, the Riki Springs, is holding at its normal strong level.  This was confirmed by GM Tony Whittaker at Tuesday’s meeting of the Raglan Community Board. Earlier some Raglan residents had expressed concerned that the springs were drying up after  Ngaruawahia issued an edict to move Raglan onto a stage 3 water alert.  Raglan resident, John Lawson walked to the springs last week and said, “I was curious to see whether the dry weather is affecting the Riki Spring, so I walked up the Omahina Creek this afternoon to have a look. The flow appears to be as usual.”

Mr Whittaker said that the reason for ‘Stage 3’ was that the Council takes a combined marketing approach. Community Board members commented that Raglan was just sharing the pain of other areas. The water usage figures for last week show that Raglan people are continuing to conserve water.  These statistics highlight that Ngaruawahia’s case for spending a small fortune on water meters is very flimsy. There is no justification for ratepayers to pay twice for water and for permanent residents and Huntly folk to subsidise holiday homes in Raglan. At the Community Board meeting, Cr Baddeley confirmed that the water meter programme had been deferred by the District Council.

Water usage figures

* Please note: information is in cubic metre. 1 cubic metre = 1000 litres

Raglan is now at Level 3 restrictions on the “Smart Water” scale.  Raglan 23 has been told that this is because Raglan is a part of WDC’s ‘district-wide’ approach, even though there is adequate water available in Raglan. This means that there is a total ban on domestic sprinklers and irrigation systems and restrictions on outdoor water use for commercial properties.