Wellington, Jan 12 (IANS): Many New Zealanders are facing water restrictions due to dry conditions and high summer demand, local authorities said on Friday.

Residents in the capital Wellington, Picton and other central New Zealand regions, as well as the Otago region in the South Island, are being urged to consider water conservation over the coming weeks, as the demand continues to rise with summer temperatures increasing nationwide, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Wellington metropolitan region will move to level 2 water restrictions on January 17, which means a ban on sprinklers and irrigation systems for residential households.

The ban applies to all irrigation systems, soaker hoses, and unattended watering systems.

Residents can still water their garden by hand at any time, on any day, so long as this is not left unattended, the Wellington City Council said on Thursday.

Water demand peaked at 195 million liters in Wellington on Tuesday, and there are some brief periods of rainfall on the weather forecast, but this is unlikely to help the situation, the Council said.

Picton and Waikawa residents and businesses have heard the call to make every drop of water count and have been asked to urgently reduce their water consumption, as demand still outstrips the town's supply.

Despite some rain forecast for the weekend, the Otago region in the South Island is currently experiencing dry conditions and people are being urged to consider water conservation over the coming weeks.

As of Friday, a number of Otago waterways are now recording low flows, which puts additional stress on the waterways and their ecological values, said the Otago Regional Council.

"Rivers throughout Otago are now running low and we need people to conserve water and use it efficiently, if taking from rivers, lakes or streams," said Jo Gilroy, the council's acting general manager regulatory.