Plant upgrades to combat Levin water woes

Levin residents hindered by Friday’s boil water notice can take cold comfort in the hopes such disruptions will soon be a thing of the past.

Upgrades to the town’s water treatment plant should mean it can withstand the sort of weather that troubled the system late last week.

The Horowhenua District Council issued the boil water notice on Friday night, following heavy rain on Thursday.

The water plant was struggling to meet demand and manage the treatment of muddy water from the Ohau River.

Council infrastructure manager Gallo Saidy said upgrades under way on the water plant were scheduled to be finished by the end of March.

‘‘When completed the plant will be able to manage similar events without the need for any boil water notices.’’

He said council hoped to give the all clear by Tuesday.

Until then residents connected to the Levin water supply were advised to continue boiling water before using it for drinking or food preparation.

Metservice forecaster Michael Martens said the heaviest rain came around noon on Thursday, but there was consistently moderate to heavy rainfall the whole time, averaging 3 millimetres per hour.

The Tararua Ranges were the hardest hit with between 140 and 200mm of rainfall, and one weather station in the ranges got 21mm in a single hour.

Martens said a lot of sediment had washed down from the ranges in the deluge, muddying water ways, such as the Oahu River, which feeds into the Levin water supply.

Whispers Cafe manager Anouska Paul said restaurants and cafes were likely among the most affected by the notice.

The notice advised hospitality businesses to ensure staff were using hand sanitiser after washing their hands, using commercially made ice, bottled water for postmix soft drink machines and ensuring coffee machines were boiling water to 100 degrees.

‘‘We’ve just got to be a lot more vigilant to make sure nothing gets missed,’’ Paul said.

The Avenue Restaurant and Cafe owner Kevin Eriksen said the extra precautions weren’t much of an inconvenience for his staff.

The council had sent emails to restaurants and cafes outlining what steps to take to keep customers safe, and had followed up with a phone call to The Avenue on Saturday, Eriksen said.

Residents were also asked to reduce their water use wherever possible to help the treatment plant cope better.