Boil water notices in two Maniototo towns will end sooner than anticipated, a Central Otago District Council meeting in Roxburgh heard this week.
Ranfurly and Patearoa have been on a boil water advisory since July 14, and it had been expected that would last until December, when their respective water treatment plant upgrades to include protozoa barriers would be completed.
However, council Three Waters general manager Julie Muir told the council there was an option to borrow a containerised UV unit from the Selwyn District Council to use as a temporary barrier at Ranfurly.
The temporary barrier could arrive this month and be operating by early September. That meant the boil water advisory could be lifted three to four months earlier.
If Ranfurly had the temporary barrier, work at Patearoa could be prioritised, allowing that town to also have the boil water notice lifted sooner than anticipated.
The water team had investigated installing point-of-use treatment devices at food premises and the Maniototo Hospital, and providing a single publicly accessible water point. However, the price difference between that option and the temporary barrier, while continuing to provide tanker waters at the key locations, was negligible, she said.
The councillors agreed to use existing operational budget to fund the operational cost of providing water tankers to Ranfurly and Patearoa, at about $50,000, while the advisory was still in place.
The $150,000 cost of installing the temporary barrier would be funded as a project cost. The budget for the Ranfurly and Patearoa water treatment upgrades was $4.2 million. The estimated costs for design, project management, construction and contingency for the upgraded plants is $3.92m, which left $280,000 of unallocated budget, which would go towards this solution, Ms Muir said.
Central Otago Mayor Tamah Alley said the temporary barrier and tanker option was preferable to people having to get their water from a single tap, which seemed "third world" for the Maniototo.
The Ranfurly boil water notice would be lifted once the temporary barrier was installed, Ms Muir said.
