The newly formed Darfield Residents Association met last Thursday with questions about chlorine ready for a council representative, but those went unanswered.
Chlorination of Darfield water is legally required until an exemption is granted by water services regulator Taumata Arowai. The district council is in the process of applying for an exemption.
Chair Harvey Polglase said it was disappointing no one from the district council was there.
“In setting up the residents association the council said we could call on council employees to update us on any issues,” Polglase said.
“We’d initially had a promise that someone would attend, but they decided no one was available.”
District council infrastructure and property group manager Murray Washington said the residents association was told in June no one could attend and provided a statement.
“Darfield’s water is supplied by two bores in the area. Bore one is 246.80m deep and bore two is 245m deep and chlorination of the supply averages 0.4-0.6 mg/l which is average for our supplies across Selwyn,” Washington said.
Polglase said while the outline was helpful, it did not answer specific questions residents had.
Malvern Ward district councillor Lydia Gliddon said she supports the residents application for exemption.
“I tried to fight the chlorination back in December around stopping it until we could get some exemptions. Obviously, Taumata Arowai is setting the bar so high that you don’t even know where to go.”
The district council is working with Rakaia Huts residents, which was initially rejected by Taumata Arowai in April. Gliddon said this will be a test case for the district council to see what is needed to get the exemptions.
“Our first port of call is the Rakaia Huts exemption, which we still haven’t got and that is the benchmark to see how we can keep progressing with these exemptions, Taumata Arowai doesn’t even have a standard for this.”
Malvern Ward district councillor Bob Mugford was unavailable for comment.
Washington said there had been no standards specified by Taumata Arowai to achieve a disinfection exemption.
Taumata Arowai was unable to respond before deadline.
