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Temporary office and Marton Community Hub closure - Friday 19 December

Council offices and the Marton Community Hub will be closing at 12:30pm on Friday 19 December. If you need to come and see us for anything, please do so before then, or hold on until we reopen again on Monday. You can still call us on 0800 422 522 to log Requests for Service.

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Level 1 Water Restrictions for Marton

High daily weather temperatures and an increase in water use in Marton means that we’re now implementing Level 1 Water Restrictions.

December 19, 2025

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The town’s supply has been under significant pressure for over a month, and we’ve seen a steady decrease in the treated water reservoir. Currently, there is anywhere between 40% and 50% of water in the treated supply. For context, we sit between 85% and 95% during most of the year.

The quality of the water up at the Tūtaenui Reservoir is really poor and is presenting lots of challenges to the Operations team. They have been working hard to keep producing water and have made some tweaks that are helping, but the demand has been higher than normal and without restrictions now, could lead to further issues down the line.

Recent rain and cooler temperatures this week have helped a bit, but with summer predicted to be a long, dry and hot one, we’re taking steps now to ensure that Marton’s water supply is able to meet firefighting and emergency management requirements.

What are the restrictions?

  1. Only handheld hose watering of gardens is allowed between 6:00pm and 8:00pm, daily.
  2. There will be a complete ban on the use of sprinklers at any time of the day.
  3. Hosepipes must not be used to clean driveways and cars.


Note: Watering cans for plants and flowers are OK to use still, just be sparing.

There are steps that you can take that will help conserve water and help our reticulation team out:

  • Cut your shower time down by 2 minutes, you'll save at least 18 litres of water from going down the drain! (Hint: bring a pot/bucket in with you so you can use that to water plants in the garden)
  • Don't run the tap when brushing your teeth and you save on average 5 litres of water each time!
  • On average, a washing machine uses up 100L of water per load! So make the most of that amount and fill your machine up to its maximum load capacity.
  • Keep a cold jug of water in your fridge rather than run the taps until the water runs cold.

We’ll be posting updates of how were tracking so you can see the progress being made on our Facebook page during the Christmas and New Years' holidays.