Jules Witt
Tapanui's water treatment plant upgrade has been elevated
to "top priority" by the Clutha District Council.
The contract for the upgrade has been awarded to Auckland
company Filtration Technology (Filtec), and will be conducted
in four stages beginning with the Tapanui supply.
The Tapanui supply was contaminated over the weekend of
December 5 and 6, when water levels dropped during a period
of high demand.
Failures in the low-level alarm monitoring system meant the
sludge at the bottom of the reservoir was sucked into the
town's reticulation system.
Jules Witt, Clutha District Council manager district assets,
said the Tapanui upgrade was going ahead first.
"The aim is to have the bulk of the work done by winter."
Mr Witt said the reservoir upgrade would take place over
spring and summer.
Fulton Hogan had supplied a full report of the incident, Mr
Witt said, and alarm monitoring procedures had been looked
at.
West Otago ward councillor Peter McPherson, who brought a jar
of contaminated water to the district council meeting last
December and demanded action over the issue, said it was
"marvellous" that the Tapanui upgrade was going ahead first.
"I'm very pleased if it's coming through as top priority,
because we had this problem, and it helps to solve it," he
said.
Work on the Tapanui upgrade is expected to begin in March and
be completed in June.
"It's marvellous," Cr McPherson said. "It's really been a bit
of a nightmare."
rachel.taylor@odt.co.nz
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.