In the midst of a drought, Watercare left a burst pipe to stream down a suburban street for five days.

While Aucklanders are being urged to think before they turn on their taps, Watercare left a burst pipe running down a suburban street for five days.

Karen Goa from Chatswood on Auckland's North Shore told Stuff four neighbours had called Watercare only to be told its teams were attending other, larger, leaks first.

"Wherever [the leaks] are, they must be absolute gushers," Goa said.

"Thousands of litres literally gurgling down the drain would have watered the entire street's gardens several times over.

On Wednesday, when Stuff asked Watercare when the pipe would be fixed: a spokeswoman said it would now send someone that afternoon.

BRAD FLAHIVE/STUFF Karen Goa: "Thousands of litres literally gurgling down the drain would have watered the entire street's gardens several times over."

"We received a call about this fault on February 22. It was due to be fixed the next day but for some reason it wasn't attended to," Watercare's spokeswoman said.

"The drought is causing ground movement, resulting in many burst pipes and we're attending to leak repairs as soon as we can."

Watercare earlier said the demand for water in Auckland is causing increasing concern, with one river at the lowest level it has been in nearly 40 years.

WATERCARE Wellsford's Hoteo River is believed to be at its lowest level since an extreme drought in 1983.

It said Auckland's water use is "skyrocketing" and people need to think before they turn their taps on.

Last week, previous water use records were broken three times, with the largest volume of 568 million litres used on February 19.

The company not repairing the pipe was "inadequate and hypocritical", Goa said.

"It is disheartening and infuriating to see water being wasted in this way, especially when we're being told to save water in these parched times."

Niwa's Ben Noll said the drier than normal weather conditions would continue through the end of February and start of March.

The first week of March could bring showers, but nothing which looked like it would break the drought.

Noll said the chances for rainfall could increase in the second week of March and beyond, due to a potential change in weather direction.