I was interested to hear the Dunedin City Council's explanation into how the raw water from the Ross Creek Reservoir got into the water reticulation network!
You could get the impression that the level of the Reservoir has never had to be lowered before - quite wrong, I have witnessed this being done a number of times after heavy rain events. The correct valve is opened and the water discharged in to the bypass channel that runs along the west side of the Reservoir.
The first thing that comes to my mind is since the City Council contracted out the majority of work on its water network, institutional knowledge has been lost including which is the correct valve to operate to lower the level of the Reservoir correctly.
What will be the next mistake made that puts the people of Dunedin at risk in the interest of saving money, South Dunedin Floods all over again.
- Paul MacManus
