A plan to use untreated water for irrigating Centennial Park instead of more expensive treated water from the Oamaru water supply has fallen by the wayside because savings are not as big as first thought and it poses operational difficulties.
The Waitaki District Council set aside up to $220,000 in this year's budget to supply untreated water to Centennial Park, which would have cost 33c a unit instead of $1 for treated water used for irrigation.
But a feasibility study found the cost of installing a system, including storage tanks, to supply untreated water for irrigation would reduce the savings to only a few hundred dollars a year.
Putting in the system would have been difficult for the council's water department and managing the irrigation posed problems for contractors.
The committee of the whole recommended yesterday the council not go ahead with the project. Instead, it recommended that the $206,000 that was left of the original allocation, after almost $14,000 had been deducted for the feasibility study, go back into the Resource Management Act fund to be held for improvement projects at Centennial Park, subject to those being approved by the council.
