Dry weather means people in the Waimea Plains area will need to tighten up on water usage.
Tasman District Council dry weather taskforce convenor Dennis Bush-King said stage one water restrictions for people in the Waimea Plans will come into force on Monday.
The stage one rationing, meaning a cut in use by 20 per cent of consented water take levels, applies in the Upper Catchment, Reservoir, Waimea West, Delta, Golden Hills and the Upper Confined Aquifer zones on the Waimea Plains.
Dry conditions and increased water demand would see river levels in the Wairoa and Waimea rivers drop, Mr Bush-King said.
"We could do with a good dose of 50mm of rain in the right place but this does not look likely. In light of this we have decided it is prudent to go to stage one now and preserve our water for as long as possible before we have to go to more restrictive rationing," he said in a statement.
"It is expected the Wairoa River at the gorge will reach trigger levels next week so we are moving to stage one rationing for urban users and most water users on the Waimea Plains."
The restrictions were in line with the council's approach to managing river levels, he said.
Watering restrictions are also introduced for urban water users in Richmond, Mapua – Ruby Bay, Brightwater, Wakefield, and Hope, and their rural extensions. Only hand held hosing of gardens every second day is permitted according to your house number, meaning residents who have an even house number can water on the even number calendar dates.
The Wai-iti zone is also affected by dry conditions but water would be released from the Kainui Dam from Friday, Mr Bush-King said.
Users in the Lower Confined Aquifer, Hope Gravel and Motupiku zones will have about a week before rationing is likely to come into affect, and the Anatoki Salmon Farm in Golden Bay will likely move into restrictions today or tomorrow, he said.
Mr Bush-King encouraged people to conserve water as the region still had a lot of hot, dry weather forecast.
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