At a West Otago Community Board meeting on Wednesday, Clutha District Council chief executive Steve Hill said there had been complaints in regards to a conserve water notice for those on the Glenkenich Rural Water Scheme.
While he understood the frustrations expressed by the complainants, in this case it was their own responsibility to ensure they had at least two day’s worth of reserves in their tanks, he said.
Council service delivery group manager Jules Witt said in a statement the complaint referred to at the meeting was from a person who recently bought a house connected to the rural water scheme but was unaware having a tank was a condition of supply and a necessity.
"These schemes are trickle feed schemes, which means a small amount of water runs into the tank over a 24-hour period rather than an on-demand system," she said.
This also meant when there were outages, such as breaks or problems with the treatment plant, customers should have storage on their own properties so there was no impact on them.
"Our message is that people are urged to follow conserve water notices when one is issued and we recommend people check their tanks . . . so they are aware of how much water is actually in there."
The council had a message alert system for rural water scheme customers and was in the process of setting up an email alert system.
Mr Hill said at the meeting that while the council’s answer might not be what people wanted to hear, it was the answer it provided.
It was not the council’s responsibility to provide or check properties had enough reserves.
