Want to report a barking dog? Need to change your rates notice mailing address? Noticed a pothole in the road?

The Waikato District Council has launched an Online Services portal on its website to enable people to report local matters, change their personal details or make a service request 24/7.

Among the categories to choose and track online are road maintenance, dog control, rubbish collection, water readings and rates queries.

An open fire season will apply in the Waikato district from May 1.

An open fire season means that permits will not be required unless the fire is within a Department of Conservation area or within a one kilometre safety margin around such an area.

Water restrictions have also been lifted in the district.

The Woodbox restaurant was expected to re-open today under the new management of the Pumice Food Group.

The Mystery Creek hospitality drawcards of The Woodbox and Coopers wedding and function centre have been taken over by Pumice after former operator Matt Cooper closed the restaurant in early January but continued to run Coopers under a contract that ends this month.

Pumice, Waikato’s biggest wedding catering company, takes over Coopers from May 1.

Most months you will find Pamela McCarthy at the Tamahere Market selling pretty jute bags. But she spends one month each year in India helping former prostitutes find a better life by making those bags.

There must be times in the heaving Indian slum of Sonagacchi when McCarthy wonders to herself what on Earth she’s doing there.

She knows the answer, delivers it without embellishment: “I can’t believe how much difference I can make in a short time. I can teach 12 girls how to sew and it can change their whole life. This is an opportunity to empower women.”

Waikato District Council is offering dog microchipping for just $20 – down from $37 – tomorrow, Tuesday March 26, and Wednesday, March 27.

The service will be offered from 11am to 3pm on Tuesday at Lake Hakanoa Domain, Huntly, and on Wednesday, at The Point, Ngaruawahia.

Since July 2006, all dogs registered in New Zealand for the first time (except farm dogs used for stock control) must be microchipped.

With the dry weather likely to continue, people on their own tank water supplies may find they need to buy in water.

Anyone who is carrying water for the purposes of human consumption, domestic or food preparation uses, for more than five days per year is required to be registered annually by the Ministry of Health.

Registered carriers utilise Ministry of Health guidelines to ensure that the water is safe and meets drinking water standards.

Landcare groups and others interested in becoming part of them are being invited to a networking field day hosted by Waikato Regional Council, the Landcare Trust and the Pukemokemoke Reserve Trust.

The Landcare community groups – which do work such as planting, fencing, and animal and plant pest control – are a significant force for good in the region.

A recent report said their numbers had swollen to 45 since the first Waikato one got going more than 20 years ago. Over one year, it was estimated that 12 groups alone did more than 13,000 unpaid hours worth around $170,000.

For the last two years, The Monastery, the therapeutic retreat at Tamahere, has offered a free, five-day retreat to Cantabrians directly affected by the earthquakes.

More than 350 Cantabrians, usually five at a time, have passed through the Newell Rd retreat since its Christchurch Project began in May 2011. The costs, at $1800 per retreat, have been fully met by The Monastery’s founder, the Hamilton-based Wise Group.

Wise joint chief executive Julie Nelson says she and her staff have been overwhelmed by the response to the retreats and would love to provide opportunities to more Cantabrians, but need support to continue beyond December.

Around four times a year, spray contractors spray weeds on roadside verges but landowners can opt out of the service and maintain their own road frontage.

The Waikato District Council, which employs the spray contractors, also maintains a “No Spray” Register.

It’s a record of property owners or residents who have requested the council not spray the area surrounding their property.

The Tamahere Plant Nursery has pitched in to help the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust.

The trust has recently opened a visitor centre, Manu Tioriori, and the Tamahere Nursery donated native plants to beautify its entrance.

The nursery donated close to 150 plants, including koromiko, dianella, Coprosma rhamnoides and flax, Jan Simmons of Tamahere Nursery and Gully Care told Tamahere Forum.