Tauranga City Council says it hopes it won't have to widen water restrictions that came into force this morning.
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The restrictions, which are the first since water meters were introduced nearly 18 years ago, have been prompted by a long hot spell and a significant increase in outdoor water usage.
Sprinklers are banned and hand held hoses are only allowed between 5am and 8am and 7pm and 10pm.
The council's city waters manager Steve Burton said people could still fill pools and wash cars during the day, but that was under review.
He said the long hot spell had put extra pressure on demand with usage being abnormally high in the past 10 days.
"Over the past two weeks, the city's water use has increased by more than 10 percent from about 46 to 51 million litres, and is up by about 10 million litres from the same time last year."
Mr Burton said planning for a new water supply was underway.
He said construction of the Waiāri Water Supply Scheme, which was designed to meet future water supply needs of Tauranga and the wider Western Bay of Plenty, would start in 2018 and be completed by 2021.
