Weston and Enfield consumers could be buying their water from
Oamaru, removing the need to spend $1.7 million to upgrade
the towns' own supplies to meet new drinking water standards.
The Waitaki District Council's assets committee on Wednesday
will decide whether to connect the Weston-Enfield water
scheme to the Oamaru water treatment plant instead of
upgrading the existing limited supply from the Kakanui River.
The Oamaru plant upgrade, paid for by consumers in Oamaru,
would sell treated water to the Weston-Enfield scheme.
The project is part of a $4.6 million, six-year programme by
the council to upgrade all of the district's water supplies
to meet the new Ministry of Health drinking water standards.
Water manager Martin Pacey said the committee and council
still had to make a final decision on upgrading the
Weston-Enfield supply.
However, by connecting it to the Oamaru water supply and its
$12 million upgraded treatment plant about $1.7 million would
be saved.
"The solution to meeting the new national drinking water
standards for the Weston-Enfield supply ended up being quite
simple," he said.
The council also looked at how it would cope with projected
significant growth at Weston and Enfield.
One proposal was a stand-alone treatment system at a cost of
$2.7 million.
However, while there was sufficient water available from the
Kakanui River to meet Enfield's future growth, there was not
enough for Weston.
The cheaper option was building a water main and pumping
station at the Oamaru water treatment plant to pump water to
the Weston reservoir with alterations to supply Enfield.
"By tapping in to the plentiful Oamaru supply there will be
ample water for Weston and Enfield to continue to grow. There
is not enough water in the Kakanui River for Weston and
Enfield consumers to go it alone," Mr Pacey said.
Oamaru water already met drinking water standards with the
highest rating of Aa.
By spreading the fixed costs of the Oamaru water treatment
plant over a larger number of consumers, Oamaru water rates
would fall.
Water rates in Weston and Enfield would be lower (at around
$400) than they would be if upgraded separately.
Work is scheduled to begin towards the end of this year, if
the council approves the plan.
david.bruce@odt.co.nz
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