The Tauranga City Council says it is business as usual with its water supply despite the region being drought stricken.

A state of drought was officially declared in the Bay of Plenty, along with Northland, north and south Auckland, Waikato and Hawke's Bay last week.

Tauranga City's water demand continues to go unaffected despite a drought announced for the region last week.

The dry weather looks set to continue with many of the listed areas receiving only a third of normal rainfall during the three months of summer while many other parts of the North Island have received half the normal rainfall.

Tauranga recorded its second lowest rainfall in 42 years in January, the lowest recorded in since 1988.

Tauranga City Council water supply manager Peter Bahrs says the city's water supply is currently in a good state sitting within water demand restrictions of 45,000 m3/day.

He is urging the public to be mindful of water usage and encourages people to make sensible decisions when it comes to using water.

'People just need to continue to behave as they have been. They need to be sensible without being excessive.

'The city's water supply is in a good state but it still needs to be simple things like watering with the tap rather than turning the sprinkler on.”

Figures show water demands exceeded the high usage mark at the end of January, and then spiked again after a small period of rainfall in February. However it remains below the water restriction trigger level of 50,000 m3/day.

The city's water demand is closely monitored during summer and when consumption reaches 45,000 m3/day it is considered high use.

Peter says the city's water metres, installed in 2000, has had a significant effect on water use behaviour. He says since the installation levels remain below the peak daily design level of 500 l/p/d (litres per person per day), which has since been reduced to 450.

'This has enabled the deferment of the construction of the Waiari Water Processing Plant by a further five years. This plant would have been required by 2005 had water metres not been installed.”

Prior to the universal metering system water restrictions were a regular summer feature, but since the installation the metering has resulted in a 30 per cent decrease in the peak demand from 700 to 500 l/p/d.

'Our raw water supply, water processing capability and reservoir operation are all functioning at comfortable levels to meet Tauranga City's water demands under normal operating conditions.

'The water operations staff maintain close watch on all of these aspects of the water supply system. Unless things change there is no needs to impose water restrictions at this time.”