The Albert Town Community Association has permission to water its orchard during level one restrictions, but some unknown but probably well-meaning person keeps turning off the hoses, community association chairwoman Heather Thorne says.
Queenstown Lakes District Council spokesman Sam White confirmed yesterday the association is allowed to water its orchard on the Albert Town lagoon public reserve, in line with district-wide restrictions.
"As Albert Town is at Level 1 this must be done between midnight and 6am.
We understand the orchard has a timer which can be programmed to come on at night.
"However, obviously it will not work if people interfere with the timer or tap, and we ask people to support this great community initiative by not doing so," Mr White said.
Mrs Thorne and her husband Stu regularly check the orchard, where apple and walnut trees have been struggling to fruit all summer under the fierce sun.
They said they had checked in with Diana Manson, the Wanaka council reserves officer, to make sure they are irrigating correctly, and believed they were doing the right thing.
The orchard is irrigated from under the soil by an underground dripper, so water is not lost from evaporation — as might happen if a sprinkler were used.
However, a group of native trees planted nearby is on a sprinkler system.
The Thornes regularly discover the taps have been tampered with and spend time resetting them.
"It could not have been a worse summer," Mrs Thorne said.
"We have lost a lot of plants."
The Albert Town Community Association also lost many trees two years ago, when heavy rainfall caused the lagoon to rise and drowned new plants.
"Now we are in a drought. It is just white when you look around [Albert Town]. Yet up the Matukituki Valley, the grass is so high [because the rainfall is different up there]. It has been a ridiculous season," Mrs Thorne said.
The association’s community produce stall is also empty, which Mrs Thorne attributes to a lack of excess vegetables this year, due to the extremely dry conditions affecting home gardens.
