Apology after no water

There was no water for almost the entire day in Takapuwahia on June 15, causing church service cancellations and forcing people to go to the toilet outside.

Chapel St’s Aneta Greening said there was no water from about 9am till 8pm. She said the communication from Porirua City Council was dreadful, and her calls went to the council’s call centre in Palmerston North.

A water truck came in the afternoon, by which stage some people were getting quite desperate, she said.

‘‘We should have been told earlier in the day. People were brassed off, this sort of thing shouldn’t happen today.

‘‘There was no communication from anyone – in the end I called [former deputy mayor] Liz Kelly to get some questions answered.

Porirua City Council chief executive Gary Simpson said council workers attempting to fix one break in a water pipe found three separate breaks.

He said it was an unusual and escalated situation for the two servicemen, and four more were soon called in.

A loudhailer was used to inform people but he said more should have been done.

‘‘The communication regarding where to get water was not good. We apologise for the disruption this caused the community,’’ he said.

Kelly confirmed she was contacted by residents and went to the suburb to get answers.

She contacted Simpson who came out to see the situation.