"It was my silly mistake," Sawyers Bay resident Graeme Willocks said yesterday, minutes after paying $183 to have 5000 litres of water delivered by tanker.
The family's 56,000-litre tank was already running low in the driest December they have experienced in five years on their farmlet.
While not obsessively conserving water, Mr Willocks, an import consultant, said he, his wife and their daughter were "consciously managing the resource" - not wasting water, not leaving the water running when they cleaned their teeth and watering the garden sparingly.
But somehow, he forgot to turn the hose off, after giving the flowers on the deck a final watering before the family left for Middlemarch for six days.
When they reutrned yesterday to find the taps dry and the tank drained, buying water was the only option.
"I've heard the most sensible thing to do to conserve water is to turn the hose off when you have finished with it. But I heard that from someone else. Don't quote me," he said.
Dunedin's balanced rainfall meant their water tank was often full or close to full and yesterday was only the second time they had bought water, Mr Willocks said.
The first time was not long after they moved in, and did not realise their water would run out if not enough rain fell to replace what they used.
With his rain gauge recording only 6mm in the past few weeks, Mr Willocks said it was possible he would have to buy more water, something he did not begrudge.
"It is an investment, not an expense. [The cost] is very cheap when you put it against petrol or bottled water from a supermarket."
With interview over, water on tap again and the pump primed, Mr Willocks went off to have something luxurious - a long, hot shower.
