Auckland's residential water bills arrive monthly and seem bigger than ever - and the pain is slowly spreading nationwide. More city and district councils are setting in place new water-metering regimes that, for many families, make it too expensive to grow a veggie garden or fill a paddling pool. Despite one of the driest months in decades, the flowers and veges are thriving on avid gardener Yvonne Dabb's 1230sqm property. Yvonne has a guilty conscience though. The 77-year-old grandmother, president of the Blockhouse Bay Garden Club, is fretting about the amount of water she has been pouring on to her climbing beans, shrubs, sunflowers and dahlias. After 30 years in this house she has come...
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