SVIS Messages
18 April 2024
SVIS is Operational again
The river has cleared enough to enable us to get the system back and operational. It was up to full pressure at 3.00 pm. If you wish to use water please do so over the next ten days as it is likely the system will be shutdown for winter on April 30.
15 April 2024
SVIS - restart following the rain
We don't expect there will be anyone wanting to irrigate before the end of April. Does anyone want to flush irrigation systems with clean water prior to winter. Or is anyone wanting to fill dams. If the river clears sufficiently and providing there is enough interest (demand) we will consider starting up next week. Please advise on the following email address stephen.rooney@marlborough.govt.nz if you want to use water Note the system will be shutdown for winter at the end of the month.
2 April 2024
SVIS Update
Mean river flow this morning is 7.26m3/s. The system will be switched off once more by 9.00 am today. Updates will be posted as this changes in the week.
1 April 2024
SVIS Update
Mean river flow this morning is 8.49m3/s. Without further rain or Trustpower generation this will give us another 24hrs of run time. We anticipate switching pumps off again Tuesday morning at 9.00 am. Will update with another post Tuesday morning.
30 March 2024
SVIS Operational from 12.00 pm
Due to Trustpower generating and a small amount of rain, the daily mean river flow is currently 9.6m3/s. The system is once again in full operation and ready for use. We anticipate 2-3 days of operation at this stage. We will post updates as necessary.
27 March 2024
SVIS Operational
The system including Hammond Road and Fareham Lane is operational once more. With the mean river flow only just above 8m3/s this will likely only last 24hrs max. We anticipate system will be shutdown again by this time tomorrow. Unless we post otherwise assume the system will be shutdown again by 9.00 am Thursday.
25 March 2024
SVIS is to be shut down again this morning
The average daily river flow is down below 8.0 m3/s again this morning. The system will be shutdown at about 8.30 am. It will remain off until the daily average flow is back above 8.0 m3/s.
22 March 2024
SVIS operating again
The average daily river flow is back above 8.0 m3/s (just) after Trustpower generation at Lake Argyle. This may not last very long so may have to shutdown again over the weekend.
21 March 2024
SVIS Shutdown
The average river flow this morning is below 8.0 m3/s. As required by the resource consent conditions we will be shutting off at 8.30 this morning.
20 March 2024
SVIS Update Wednesday
The average daily river flow will likely be below 8.0 m3/s in the morning. We will have to shut SVIS off. Obviously this will stop the flow of water for irrigation from the system but note also water will not be available for washing down harvesters and other equipment. If water is needed other arrangements will have to be made.
As previously advised due to resource consent conditions Council can no longer make water available from the Blenheim water supply for either irrigation or washdown.
18 March 2024
SVIS Update Monday
There was a little increase in river flow after the rain on Friday evening but the level is back to being just above 8.0 m3/s. With no rain in the ten day forecast we expect to have to shut the scheme off tomorrow or Wednesday.
14 March 2024
SVIS Update Thursday
The daily average flow this morning is 9.97m3/s. The actual flow is currently 9.72 m3/s. Without any rainfall or generation, we will likely be looking at shutting system down within the next few days. As SVIS is approaching shutdown and will not be available, please make sure you have stored water or other means for harvester washdown or spraying. Unless this changes next update will be Friday 15 March.
13 March 2024
SVIS Update Wednesday
The daily average flow this morning is 10.3m3/s. The actual flow is currently 10.1 m3/s. Without any rainfall or generation, we will likely be looking at shutting system down within the next few days. As SVIS is approaching shutdown and will not be available, please make sure you have stored water or other means for harvester washdown or spraying. Unless this changes next update will be Thursday 14 March.
11 March 2024
SVIS Update Monday
The daily average flow this morning is 11.6m3/s. The actual flow is currently 10.7 m3/s. Without any rainfall or generation, we will likely be looking at shutting system down within the next few days. Unless this changes next update will be Wednesday 13 March.
8 March 2024
SVIS Update Friday
The daily average flow this morning is 19.5m3/s. The flow is currently 15.1 m3/s. This will keep the system operating until early next week. We will keep you posted with another update on Monday .
6 March 2024
SVIS Update Wednesday
“With decent rainfall in the catchment. The daily average flow this morning is 14.1m3/s. The flow is currently 21.8 m3/s and still possibly rising slowly. This is likely to keep us operating until maybe early next week. We will keep you posted with updates”.
4 March 2024
SVIS Monday update
We've been saved by the rain for now. The daily average flow this morning was 8.4 m3/s. The flow is now 10 m3/s and still rising slowly. This is likely to keep us operating for a few days at least. We will keep you posted with updates later in the week.
1 March 2024
SVIS shut off update
As a result of a small rainfall event in the headwaters on Monday Trustpower's generation river levels have been steady at an average of 11.0 m3/s over the last two days. We are now unlikely to have to consider shutting off before Monday. There is rainfall forecast for Monday morning so we might be operating for a bit longer yet.
29 February 2024
SVIS Thursday shut off update
There has been no further appreciable change to the river flow rate of reduction. We are expecting to have to have shut off over the weekend. WE are likely to be able to provide which day tomorrow morning.
28 February 2024
SVIS shut off update
There has been a lift in river flows as a result of rainfall in the head waters over the weekend and the tributaries are rising slightly now from rain late yesterday. We will see a small benefit from that at the Tuamarina recorder tomorrow morning. At this rate we expect the shut off might be necessary in 3 to 6 days. We'll provide a further update tomorrow morning.
26 February 2024
Imminent shutdown of scheme
The average daily Wairau River flow this morning is just above 9.0 m3/s. We expect to have to shut the system down in the next couple of days when it reaches a daily average of 8.0 m3/s. There is no rainfall forecast until next week. Customers can expect the water will be switched of before the end of the week.
23 February 2024
Potential SVIS shutdown next week
We are anticipating having to shut SVIS down early next week unless there is rainfall in the catchment over the weekend that will increase river flows. The environmental graph on the website maybe inaccurate has been showing the flow steady at around 14 m3 per second for most of this week. This is unusual as there has been no rain to create this. The flow will be manually assessed this afternoon. The result of this is likely to find the flow is lower than being recorded.
12 February 2024
SVIS riverflow update
The Wairau River average flow is down to 19 m3/s. It is receding at a flow of 1.0 m3/s per day. We will have to commence reductions in the water take when it reaches 12 m3/s and full shutoff at 8 m3/s. Keep an eye on the flow rates on the web site to monitor the on going flows. We will update regularly through antenno also.
22 January 2024
SVIS – River Flow update
There's been some rain in the headwaters over the last few days. The river flow is currently 35 m3/s. It's unlikely an SVIS shutoff will be required for at least 3 to 4 weeks. Of course there might be more rain before that.
15 January 2023
SVIS 2024 Wairau River flows
The river flow got as low as 18 m3 per second overnight. Without rainfall it will drop as much as 1m3/s each day. We are required to stop taking water for SVIS if the flow reaches 8.0 m3/s. We will provide regular updates in the coming weeks. You can view this information for yourself at the following: https://hydro.marlborough.govt.nz/environmental
14 November 2023
Unplanned Seddon Water Supply Outage
The water will be off from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm today in Marldene Avenue and Wakefield St from Marldene Avenue to Goulter Street, and including 12 Schwass Street. The water will be off to repair a burst water main.
20 October 2023
Brancott and Brookby Road Update
These two boosters had a good run from this morning through to early and mid-afternoon but have now dropped out on low flow. We will start them at 8.45 am on Saturday and Sunday (half time during the RWC semi finals). Also on Monday at a time to be published on Sunday. We will only start them this one time on each day.
20 October 2023
The Brancott and Brookby booster pump stations have been reset and started this morning. They are both currently running. With some consistent use we expect they will keep running.
18 October 2023
SVIS Reduction in Demand
After the rain over the last few days demand has dropped off.
As a result we are struggling to keep some of the booster pumps running, particularly Brookby and Brancott Roads.
We have found we are creating leaks if we continually try to start them with low demand.
We are going to leave them off until the morning of Friday 20 October when we will try to get them operating for the weekend.
2 October 2023
SVIS Season Start-Up
We will commence priming the system this week.
Water will be available from Friday.
We will advise if this is going to be earlier.
13 September 2023
SVIS start up for 2023/24
We are considering starting the system in the first week of October. We'd like to know if there are customers who would commence filling their dam once water is available and/or do you consider you will commence irrigation then.
This information will help us manage start up, knowing what the demand will look like.
Please email stephen.rooney@marlborough.govt.nz
21 April 2023
SVIS season shutdown
Irrigation demand has dropped off so that we are struggling to keep the SVIS system operating.
We are considering shutting it off on 28 April at 4:30 pm.
Please advise if this is not going to suit your operations and how much longer you might need water for.
Email us at mdc@marlborough.govt.nz attention Stephen Rooney.
25 October 2022
Due to low demand we are struggling to keep the Brancott booster pump running.
When it shuts off due to low demand higher properties will not get water and all others will have low pressure.
We have started it again this morning. If you need water and to keep it going please irrigate now and throughout the day.
We expect it will shut off again overnight. We will start it up again each morning at 8:30 am until demand settles down and it can be run continuously.
19 October 2022
SVIS is up and running
The network has been primed and is now operational.
For the first few days the ends of lines will be at low pressure.
If you have dams to fill or lines testing to get completed, now is the time.
This will help keep flow rates up so they system continues to run and does not shut down due to low demand.
11 October 2022
We are trying to determine when to start up SVIS for the season. To do so we need consistent irrigation use or dams being filled.
Fertigiation, spraying or system testing alone is insufficient water use to enable continuous operation of the system.
Please email stephen.rooney@marlborough.govt.nz to advise when irrigation use will be required.
24 April 2022
We are looking at shutting the system down on Friday afternoon (29th April) for end of season.
If you have any specific requirement beyond this date please make contact with SVIS Operator to discuss if there are any other options.
19 April 2022
The Wairau River on the morning of Saturday 16 April was flowing at 12 m3/s. If there is no rain this week we are likely to have to shut the system down toward the end of the week.
6 April 2022
A power outage is affecting the Fareham Lane pump station. We will reinstate the supply when the power comes back on.
1 April 2022
As irrigation demand reduces there are some parts of the network we cannot operate. The system is designed to provide large volumes of water for multiple users. It cannot deliver for single small irrigation volumes or harvester wash down. If harvesters need to be cleaned down in locations where SVIS is unavailable, provision for alternative water supply will have to be considered.
9 March 2022
We have been having trouble keeping the booster pump operating for this area due to low demand.
From tomorrow we will restart the pump at 8:00am each day. It would be useful if users programmed their systems to irrigate from this time each day. We expect it will shutdown later in the day as demand drops off, but we will restart again the following morning.
3 February 2022
Overnight rain in the headwaters and more to come will see healthy river flows over the next few days.
Be aware the river will become dirty so SVIS water will be very silty for a while.
31 January 2022
On 30 January the morning's average daily river flow has dropped to 12 m3/s. Without rainfall we will be required to shut the system off by the end of the week.
There is rain forecast for later in the week. If this rain does eventuate this will enable SVIS to continue.
Lets hope that rain does arrive.