Water is essential to help bind the gravel together and gain compaction on unsealed roads, ensuring a quality outcome.

Read more: Level 3 water restrictions begin in Hastings

Director Dan Bylsma said the decision aligns with community expectations that council is conserving water across our entire operation during a period of very high water restrictions.

"We also have limited water sources, and are at the point where future works will become inefficient and unproductive due to the distances of carting water to worksites," said Mr Bylsma.

"The dry weather has allowed us to get between 4-6 weeks ahead of schedule on our road grading program, which is a great outcome for our community, and we will assess how we might recommence grading early in 2020."

Crews that would normally have responsibility for road grading will shift their focus to gravel resheeting (with pre-conditioned wet quarry gravel), sealed road heavy patching (using recycled water) and clearing debris from fire ravaged areas.

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