Bringing the schemes up to standard ahead of the district joining Southern Waters will be challenging given the scale of the problem, a staff report to councillors states..
A high number of rural drinking water schemes across the district continued to be non-compliant.
‘‘Drinking water compliance remains council’s most significant regulatory and public health challenge,’’ a report prepared for today’s assets and infrastructure committee states.
‘‘While the district’s larger supplies continue to meet regulatory requirements, a number of [the] council’s smaller schemes continue to have compliance gaps.
‘‘A high number of rural schemes continue to be non-compliant and operate under permanent boil water notices.’’
Ten out of 14 drinking water supplies did not meet the standards set in the drinking water quality assurance rules.
There were ‘‘notable’’ improvements reported for some schemes ‘‘notwithstanding the challenges’’.
Duntroon was fully compliant with drinking water quality assurance rules and the Ohau scheme had a new chlorination system.
But several schemes were under permanent boil water notices and risked regulatory action if ‘‘timely’’ improvements did not take place.
Significant capital investment was being made to address the issues, ‘‘although achieving compliance across all schemes prior to transitioning to Southern Waters will be challenging given the scale of issues’’.
There were treatment limitations, especially regarding filtration.
The Lower Waitaki scheme was recording nitrate levels that were about 50% of the maximum acceptable limit, ‘‘which is an area of concern’’ for council staff.
The scheme was, at the time the report was written, under a boil water notice following heavy rain, which was a recurring issue.
A boil water notice was issued in April due to the same problem.
