Invercargill residents will not be allowed to use unattended hosing or water sprinklers from this Saturday (18 Feb), following an Invercargill City Council (ICC) announcement today.

Queens Park's fountains and the water play area would also be turned off, as well as turf irrigation minimised at both Rugby and Surrey Parks .

ICC Group Manager Infrastructure Erin Moogan said that although some rain has fallen, it had not extended into the Ōreti catchment and this had resulted in low flows in the Ōreti River (Invercargill city's water source).

"As there was no rain forecast, it was anticipated that the flow would continue to reduce," she said.

“We’ve made the decision to apply our first level water restriction, which prohibits all domestic unattended hosing and sprinkler use, and that will take effect from Saturday 18

February.”

This means hand‐held watering of gardens and no sprinkler use.

Under ICC’s permit to draw water there was a condition set by Environment Southland (ES) to apply water conservation measures according to the river’s flow.

The first trigger for conservation measures is when the flow falls to, or below 4 cubic metres per second.

As of Wednesday 14 February, the Ōreti River flow at Wallacetown was at 4.49 cubic metres per second, falling from 4.77 cubic meters per second on Tuesday 14 February.

Moogan said the second trigger point is set at 3.2 cubic metres per second and activates the prohibition of all domestic outside use of water, such as washing cars and watering

gardens.

“The second trigger can be quite soon after the first so people should be prepared.”

It is important that the ICC follows the measures set by Environment Southland in order to protect the Ōreti River system, she said.

ICC recognises that outdoor water usage is critical to many businesses across the city.

While it is only domestic water usage that is restricted we appreciate our business community putting in place measures to conserve water wherever possible, she said.

Mataura is currently under level three restrictions, which means residents can only use handheld hoses or buckets between 7-9am and 7-9pm to water plants (excluding grass) and may only wash limited parts of their vehicles with a bucket only.

Meanwhile Southland District residents have had a sprinkler ban since 31 December.