Residents of Mayfield, Chertsey and Hakatere Huts are being asked to conserve drinking water for two hours on various days this week.

Drinking water treatment plants in those areas will be shut down from 9 to 11am, in Mayfield Wednesday 29 May, Hakatere Huts Thursday 30 May and Chertsey Friday 31 May.

This is because they are receiving upgrades for their electricity meters to smart meters.

Infrastructure Services Group Manager Neil McCann said the plant operators will ensure that the reservoir tanks are filled prior to the shutdowns, so there should be enough water in the reservoirs if people use water conservatively.

“The electricity meter upgrades should take no longer than two hours, but we do ask people to conserve their water use where possible to avoid draining the reservoirs. People can still have showers and flush toilets but minimise activity that would use large amounts of water on their affected days.”

The work is being done by Delta, a sub-contractor of Meridian.

The Tinwald water treatment plant will not be affected as the remaining three Ashburton plants can supply to that area.

Text message reminders will be sent to those affected areas subscribed to the free text alert service.

To receive these notifications text your postcode to ‘4196’.