A new $15.7m pipeline is set to make Hororātā’s drinking water more reliable, but will not increase capacity in the growing settlement.

Work is underway on the new pipeline which is due to be completed in June. It will take water from the Hartleys scheme in the Malvern foothills and bring it to Hororātā via the 14km pipeline.

In the last three years, the settlement has received 22 conserve water notices, mostly when  rain contaminated the supply. The Hartley scheme only had three notices in the same period.

While the pipeline will provide a more reliable supply, it will not increase the amount of water available in Hororātā.

Properties in the settlement are on a restricted water supply, with no capacity for further connections because Selwyn Water has reached the limit of its Environment Canterbury consent.

Each property is allocated a number of water units depending on its size and intended use. One unit equates to 1000L of water a day.

At a community meeting held by Selwyn Water last week, some residents raised concerns Hororātā’s growth is being restricted because it cannot get more water.

Resident Phil Freeman said a lot of people in the settlement no longer use all the water allocated to them. But he said Selwyn Water has made it difficult for them to change how much water they receive.

“We can’t develop. Our township is dying because there is no water,” he said.

It currently costs $145 for administration and $560 for the physical work to change a property’s restrictor to reduce the amount of water it receives.

Selwyn Water chief executive Alex Cabrera said it is investigating other ways to cover the cost.

“Selwyn Water is looking at whether there are better ways to manage these costs, including cost sharing or reducing costs where appropriate, particularly where returning unused allocation could help make better use of capacity on constrained schemes such as Hororātā.”

But Cabrera cautioned residents against reducing their water supply, as once it had been given up they may not be able to increase their allocation again.

“On a scheme that is at or near capacity, a water unit surrendered today may be reallocated elsewhere and may not be available if that property needs additional water in the future.”

Cabrera said there was currently no way to measure how much of the water a property received was actually used.

Cabrera said it plans to add more meters to monitor water usage as part of Selwyn Water’s long-term strategy.

“We are trialling meters alongside existing restrictors in some areas to better understand actual water use, how this compares with allocated water units, and whether there is unused capacity within our existing networks.

“The purpose of the trials is to build a stronger evidence base so we can have an informed conversation with our communities about the options, costs and benefits before decisions are made.”

New outage site launched

Selwyn Water has launched a new map which shows if a certain supply has a conserve or boil water notice on it. The map can allow people to enter their address if they are unsure what water supply they are on. It can be found at: httshorturl.at/odakQ