For the first time since 2023, all of Auckland’s ten dams are 100% full after weeks of rain.
The Wāitākere and Hūnua dam catchments have received 1000mm of rain since April, 50% more than usual.
Hydrologist Joe Gendall said, “getting 100% storage definitely doesn’t happen every year”.
The full dams were a relief following a threat of water restrictions in Auckland earlier this year, when dams were only 60% full in April.
Watercare’s head of water Sharon Danks said, “for a while there it was a bit tenuous about when the rain was going to come and that’s probably when we’re at our most nervous — effectively, how low can you go”.
She said the first four months of the year were “exceptionally dry” and the second four months were “exceptionally wet”.
“I think it’s actually a reflection of climate change that things are getting drier and wetter at the same time.”
With all 10 of the city’s dams full, Auckland doesn’t have to draw as heavily on the Waikato River, which costs Watercare five times as much to get the water into people’s taps.
The added cost was due to the more intensive treatment required and the extra energy needed to pump it into the city.
The state of the dams also meant Auckland had stored all of its required water for summer.
Gendall said there was an extra “nine thousand Olympic-sized swimming pools of water, so we’re in a really good situation now”.