Irrigation season extension

Greater Wellington has extended the period for consent holders to take water until the end of May following a request from the Wairarapa Drought Committee this week.

The extension follows several months of below average rainfall resulting in significantly low soil moisture levels in some areas.

It applies to consent holders whose consents do not allow irrigation in May and who either take from groundwater in an area where there are no restrictions on adjacent river/stream flows, or from rivers and streams with no restrictions on flows.

The extension is subject to consent holders not exceeding the annual volume they are allowed to take in a year. Greater Wellington may ask consent holders to stop irrigating if it believes there are adverse effects on waterways.

"The rains this week will no doubt be welcomed but without further significant falls soil moisture levels will remain low in some areas for some time," Greater Wellington Environmental Regulation Manager Alistair Cross said.

"Because of this we are prepared to relax the requirement on irrigation takes for this year only to allow irrigation to continue to the end of May."