The grass might be brown for a little longer in Bell Block backyards. NPDC Council manager of operations Graeme Pool said the water situation was better than this time last year IN 2013 but people still needed to be sparing in their use. New Plymouth District Council’s water boss Mark Hall said there was treated water stored to act as a buffer for daily flows and for use in emergencies by the fire service. Mr Hall said the cost of investing in big reservoirs to store water was not worth it when peak flow time was only a small part of the year. “And let’s face it, grass grows back.” He said people could combat the brown lawn problem by having their own rainwater tank or using grey water from the washing machine for watering. Water use across the New Plymouth District rose during the weekend with 72.817 million litres used on Saturday and Sunday, one million litres (1.4 per cent) up on the weekend before. However, the average weekday use last week (37.601 million litres) was 10.5 per cent down on the weekday average for the week starting February 17. Despite the light rain on Monday morning, there is no evidence of any change in water levels for the Mangatete Stream (Okato’s water supply) which is running very low.
