Auckland likely to avoid boil water notice

1:39 pm on 17 March 2017

Aucklanders are unlikely to face a city-wide boil water notice, Watercare says.

Operations controller James Talbot and headworks manager Joseph Chaloner Warman take samples at Cosseys Dam.

Operations controller James Talbot and headworks manager Joseph Chaloner Warman take samples at Cosseys Dam. Photo: Supplied / Watercare

The water provider had asked Aucklanders to conserve water, to prevent a boil-water notice being issued, after last week's heavy rain clogged the city's main treatment plant at Ardmore.

Chief executive Raveen Jaduram said this morning the production capacity had moved from highly fragile to stable and sustainable.

There was now a 10 percent buffer between Aucklanders' daily water use and the production level.

Mr Jaduram urged people to still take care.

"We are confident that we will not have to go into a boil water notice any time soon. But that risk still remains if demand is higher than our sustainable capacity."

WaterCare had asked people to cut water usage by 20 litres per person per day until the end of March.

However the savings target had been missed for several days. Water consumption was 415 million litres on Wednesday - six million litres more than Tuesday, and well above the target of 400m litres.

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