Ōamaru residents urged to conserve water for several more days

Oamaru residents should prepare to conserve water until at least later this week after torrential rain disrupted the town's supply.

The Oamaru Water Supply remain under a conserve water notice, impacting communities from Oamaru North to Moeraki including Weston, Kakanui, Herbert and Hampden.

It was issued when only two days of usable water was left.

The Waitaki District Council said Ardgowan Dam needed time to recover after last week's storm caused high turbidity and prevented water from being pumped in from the water race to boost the supply.

That meant the stored water in Ardgowan Dam was the only available supply.

The council said pumping had resumed, but the treatment plant was not operating its usual level yet and water usage from households and businesses had not dropped significantly despite the notice.

The Hamnak pipeline - which supplies Kakanui, Maheno, Herbert, Hampden, Waianakarua and Moeraki - was turned off for two days last week to reduce demand.

Affected residents and businesses already have to keep three days of water on hand as it is a restricted supply.

Residents in the wider community are being asked to reduce their non-essential water use.

"Most of the recovery so far has come from temporarily turning off the Hamnak pipeline, with yesterday's use similar to the same time last week before the conserve notice was issued," the council said.

"Until dam levels recover, the supply remains vulnerable if another weather event occurs."

The council expected the conserve water notice would be lifted late this week or early next week.