The Waitaki District Council has itself been caught with an
illegal water connection in an investigation intended to
catch people stealing water.
The council has been clamping down on illegal water
connections because of the pressure on the water supply,
which has affected the supply to some consumers, in some
cases closing water schemes to new connections.
Now its own regulatory department has caught the council
breaching its own water scheme bylaw at the Hampden camping
ground, which it owns but leases out.
The most common offence is to remove "restrictors", which
limit the amount of water consumers get in a day.
A restrictor which controls the flow from the Hampden-Moeraki
water scheme to the camping ground had been removed, making
it an illegal connection, but ensuring enough water for
campers.
The council has moved quickly to rectify the illegal
connection and will install two 30,000 litre storage tanks to
make sure the camping ground gets enough water, especially
during peak holiday periods, when the camp is popular with
families.
The council's property committee has been instructed to
recover the cost - estimated at $13,000.
Some water scheme committees have been carrying out
inspections to find illegal connections.
Hampden-Moeraki was one of those.
The council then got a letter from its compliance monitoring
officer, Paul Arnold, saying a restrictor had been removed
from the camping ground's supply "and an illegal connection
made to the water-supply main pipe".
"This illegal action has contributed to the serious problems
experienced by the rural water scheme in supplying water to
its customers, who are your neighbours in the community," he
said.
The council was breaching the terms and conditions of supply
by interfering with a rural water scheme supply pipe,
installing an illegal connection, removing the restrictor and
taking water in excess of its daily allocation of 1818
litres.
Mr Arnold said the council would be charged the costs
incurred by the scheme in investigating, identifying,
rectifying and restoring the camping ground's legal supply.
He warned the Hampden-Moeraki water scheme committee took the
matter very seriously and any further breach would result in
further action.
david.bruce@odt.co.nz
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