Water supply budget blowout

The cost to operate and maintain Queenstown's water supply is running 70% over budget, and will end the financial year about $650,000 in the red, the Queenstown Lakes District Council's utilities committee heard yesterday.

There was a warning in March the budget was heading for a blowout, and this looked set to exceed $800,000, of which the Queenstown water supply accounted for the biggest portion by far, QLDC 3 waters manager (wastewater, stormwater and potable water) Gerry Essenberg said yesterday.

He said the main reason was costly repairs on the old water network in Queenstown.

For example, recent repairs to the Fernhill rising main cost about $200,000.

A pump failure at the Two Mile pump station below Fernhill in February cost about $100,000, to be paid partly in this financial year and partly in the next year.

"All non-essential operations, maintenance and renewal works that do not compromise the integrity of the schemes have been stopped or postponed to meet overall council budgets," he said.

To cover the over-expenditure, the council will cut into the budget for renewals of the water schemes.

"Expenditure on renewals will be around $1.2 million under budget. We will take the $800,000 from this area, and still have an overall positive outcome for this sector," Mr Essenberg said.

At the utilities committee meeting in March, Cr Cath Gilmour raised concerns about using the renewals budget to cover over-expenditure.

At yesterday's meeting she requested an update on exactly how much was spent on renewals in the current year.

Mr Essenberg said he was more confident about meeting next year's budget.

"We now have a much better understanding of the state of the network and the likely cost of repairs, so next year's costs for operations and maintenance should be more foreseeable.

"However, there is still an element of unpredictability, as we cannot accurately predict any major leaks. In the draft annual plan more money has been set aside for this area for next year, so hopefully we will meet that budget," he said.