Far North Holdings and Bay of Islands Marina will implement the following measures in response to the Level 4 water restrictions announced for Waitangi, Paihia, Opua, Kawakawa and Moerewa today:
- Commercial boat operators using our facilities have been instructed by Far North District Council not to wash vessels.
- One of the two supplies of potable water for vessels using Paihia Wharf will be disabled (P5). The supply on the fuel jetty remains but is now restricted for drinking use only.
- Bay of Islands Marina staff are instructing marina users not to wash their vessels:
-
- an email has been sent to all berth-holders and renters, notifying them of the new restrictions
-
- marina staff are regularly walking the docks to ensure compliance.
-
- water use over the marina docks is restricted to filling freshwater tanks. Observers should be aware that some vessels moored at the marina have their own stand-alone water-making facilities and that the restrictions imposed today do not cover these.
-
- revised signage outlining the enhanced water-use restrictions and reasons for these will be placed in the laundry and shower/toilet areas and at each pier gate.
- We are monitoring our water meters daily for leaks or excess use.
- Bay of Islands Boatyard in Opua has been limiting its water usage to the water-blasting operation, and restricting even this wherever it can. Under its Consent conditions the boatyard is unable to move boats onto the hard-standing without water-blasting foul from the hulls. Literally dozens of local businesses in the Opua Marine Park depend on our ability to continue doing this. We have investigated our ability to use salt water in our water-blasters but the unit manufacturers have advised us that this is not possible.
As a result, under Level Three restrictions we had an approved exemption for the boatyard of 4,500 litres a day. This has been automatically revoked now that Level Four restrictions have been imposed. At this stage we do not intend to apply for a fresh exemption. Instead, we have sourced a private supply of otherwise-unused water that will enable us to continue operating the boatyard. And enable the local businesses dependent on this facility to continue doing what they do.