Weston and Enfield consumers could be buying their water from Oamaru, removing the need to spend $1.7 million to upgrade the towns' own supplies to meet new drinking water standards.
The Waitaki District Council's assets committee on Wednesday will decide whether to connect the Weston-Enfield water scheme to the Oamaru water treatment plant instead of upgrading the existing limited supply from the Kakanui River.
The Oamaru plant upgrade, paid for by consumers in Oamaru, would sell treated water to the Weston-Enfield scheme.
The project is part of a $4.6 million, six-year programme by the council to upgrade all of the district's water supplies to meet the new Ministry of Health drinking water standards.
Water manager Martin Pacey said the committee and council still had to make a final decision on upgrading the Weston-Enfield supply.
However, by connecting it to the Oamaru water supply and its $12 million upgraded treatment plant about $1.7 million would be saved.
"The solution to meeting the new national drinking water standards for the Weston-Enfield supply ended up being quite simple," he said.
The council also looked at how it would cope with projected significant growth at Weston and Enfield.
One proposal was a stand-alone treatment system at a cost of $2.7 million.
However, while there was sufficient water available from the Kakanui River to meet Enfield's future growth, there was not enough for Weston.
The cheaper option was building a water main and pumping station at the Oamaru water treatment plant to pump water to the Weston reservoir with alterations to supply Enfield.
"By tapping in to the plentiful Oamaru supply there will be ample water for Weston and Enfield to continue to grow. There is not enough water in the Kakanui River for Weston and Enfield consumers to go it alone," Mr Pacey said.
Oamaru water already met drinking water standards with the highest rating of Aa.
By spreading the fixed costs of the Oamaru water treatment plant over a larger number of consumers, Oamaru water rates would fall.
Water rates in Weston and Enfield would be lower (at around $400) than they would be if upgraded separately.
Work is scheduled to begin towards the end of this year, if the council approves the plan.
