Waihola residents in dark over water supply cut

Waihola resident Bruce Pickering with a Clutha District Council-supplied water tanker. PHOTO:...
Waihola resident Bruce Pickering with a Clutha District Council-supplied water tanker. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON
At least 18 households in Waihola township are without water and some residents are less than impressed with how forthcoming the Clutha District Council has been about the problem.

Waihola landscaper Bruce Pickering said it had been at least three days since the water stopped flowing and the Clutha District Council had not given any explanation as to what was happening or when water might be restored.

Waihola is on a reticulated water scheme where households have 4000-5000-litre water storage tanks receiving 1000-2000 litres a day from a reservoir.

Mr Pickering said he noticed his tank was running out on Thursday evening.

"The water quality is pretty Third World here at the best of times — we don't drink it. You get a lot of sludge building up in tanks and causing problems with filters. Knowing how long it takes to get through a tank of water, I’d say there’s been no supply here for about four to five days." he said.

Yesterday, the council acknowledged there were problems at the Waihola reservoir.

"There is no water currently in the Mallard Dr area, and only limited water available elsewhere in the settlement. A water tanker will be parked at the Waihola Community Hall this afternoon for residents to get drinking water. If you do have water please conserve it as far as possible today. We are working on a solution to this problem," it said.

A council spokeswoman said teams were out on the ground working on the problem.

"Across the district we’re in the middle of an extensive water treatment and pipework upgrade process. If you look in our annual plan you’ll see we’re spending millions in improvements in this area. When we get one of these [reports] we don't mess about."

A water tanker was parked on the main street yesterday for residents affected by the outage.

 - Nick Brook

Add a Comment