In January, the Otago Daily Times reported 10 of the Clutha District Council’s water schemes were under boil-water notices, meaning residents were advised to boil all drinking water for at least a minute before consuming it.
In July, water regulator Taumata Arowai added to Clutha’s woes, after its 2024 national drinking water report said the district was responsible for 338, or 59.8%, of the country’s drinking water quality breaches.
Council deputy chief executive Jules Witt said council staff had been working hard to address long-standing issues with some of the schemes, both through targeted work and significant planned infrastructure upgrades.
Last week, the North Bruce rural water scheme had its boil-water notice lifted after more than two years.
Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan said the change brought a small number of remaining Waihola properties into compliance, as well as all rural properties served by the scheme.
An aluminium advisory remained in place for the scheme, as levels continued to be monitored after earlier breaches.
Mr Cadogan thanked the community for its patience.
"It can be frustrating when major infrastructure improvements take so long to come to fruition. However, to now be in a position of confidence in the water we are producing for the North Bruce community is something to be proud of. Staff have work tirelessly to get to this stage. They should be immensely proud too".
Mr Witt said only Moa Flat and Balmoral-Tuapeka schemes remained on notices.
"New drinking water standards were introduced in November 2022. Unfortunately, processes at the Moa Flat water treatment plant, which was designed prior to this, do not treat the water to meet these standards for protozoal and bacterial measures," Mr Witt said.
"Now that the modifications made at North Bruce have proven successful, council has commenced discussions with the supplier to implement similar modifications at the Moa Flat plant."
The council was also bringing a brand new supply online for Balmoral-Tuapeka before Christmas, under the Greenfield Water Scheme Project.
Work would continue increasing storage and resilience across Clutha’s other schemes.
Mr Witt said the council was targeting a fully compliant network with no boil-water notices, although extreme weather might intervene.
