Water restrictions are being imposed across urban and rural areas of the Western Bay for the next month.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council announced today it has imposed water restrictions across areas of its reticulated water supply until Monday 1 April.

Water restrictions are in place across the Western Bay of Plenty.

Areas include Waihi Beach, Katikati, Omokoroa, Te Puna, Te Puke, Maketu, Pukehina and Paengaroa.

Council's Utilities Manager Kelvin Hill says the restrictions involve a total ban on the use of irrigation and garden watering equipment between the hours of 6am to 9pm, typically the highest demand period.

It has also introduced the use of ‘odds' and ‘evens' approach for irrigation at night between the hours of 9pm and 6am.

This means that properties with an ‘odd' number address, for example 3, 5, 49 can irrigate on ‘odd' days of the month, for example 7, 9, 21 March. For properties with an ‘even' street address, irrigation can occur on ‘even' days of the month.

While the ‘odds' and ‘evens' approach does allow customers to irrigate between 9pm and 6am every second day only, Kelvin says the Council is emphasising it's still important to limit night-time irrigation to help conserve water.

'We'll continue to closely monitoring reservoir levels however if the dry weather continues, as predicted by NIWA, and reservoir levels have not reached required levels to meet regular demand by March 18 we may have to consider extending the restrictions beyond the end of the month.”

As a result of higher demand being placed on reticulation, Kelvin also says some customers in outer lying areas of the district and those with elevated properties could experience low water pressure.

'By bringing in restrictions now and substantially reducing demand on existing capacity we are aiming to reduce the need for future restrictions.”

Customers who require further information are encouraged to contact the Council's customer services team on 571 8008.