Hawke's Bay Regional Council staff say they hope irrigators in the region will follow the example of a group of orchardists and farmers who have been able to keep irrigating by co-ordinating their water use.
For the past two months about 80 irrigators in the Twyford area of the Heretaunga Plain have been working together and with the council to roster and ration their water use.
Council resource management group manager Iain Maxwell says by doing that they have kept the Raupare Stream above minimum flow, avoiding an irrigation ban for all except two days over the past two months.
Mr Maxwell says the drought hitting Hawke's Bay is potentially worse than the 2008-09 drought, and recent rain is likely to have brought only short-term relief, because more dry weather is forecast.
