Water pipe bursts in Seddon
Residents in rural Marlborough were told to share a communal tap in town while a burst water main was repaired.
Residents and businesses in Seddon, about 23 kilometres south of Blenheim, were without water for nearly 24 hours after scheduled maintenance broke the town’s main pipeline.
Seddon resident Sid Llewell said the communal tap, outside Seddon School on Marama Rd, was treated with UV light and was often used by members of the public as the rest of Seddon’s tap water had to be boiled.
‘‘About 9am [on Thursday] I went to make a coffee, and the water was off. I was not very impressed,’’ he said.
He did not bother walking down to the tap for his cuppa though.
The works were scheduled for 3pm on Wednesday and were finished about 8pm, however the pipe broke a few hours after the maintenance was completed and again about 6am on Thursday.
Residents and businesses were without water until the pipe was fixed, with some residents disappointed they had not been informed.
Country Kai manager Sussanne Carrick said a stream of people had asked to use the cafe’s toilet, but she had to turn them away because it would not flush.
‘‘We’ve got a toilet in the cafe that nobody can use. When you want to go to the toilet, what do you do? Wet yourself?’’
Carrick rang the council to request a portaloo and was told the water would be back on by noon, she said. The water was eventually turned on about 2.15pm, but was running below normal pressure while the Lion’s Back tanks refilled.
Seddon School principal Tania Pringle said she had received updates from the council about the water situation throughout the morning.
The school, on Redwood St, had a filtration system on site with a reserve tank, so pupils still had access to drinking water, however there was no water for the toilets.
Pringle said the council was concerned about keeping the school open and would have helped provide portaloos if vineyard owners had not already provided some.
Council engineering officer Erica Hobbs said the loss of water supply was caused by the failure of fittings that linked sections of pipe, though further investigation was needed to find out exactly what happened.
The pipe had older repairs close to the breaks which could have made the pipe unstable, so workers had replaced a larger section with one piece of new pipe to restore water, she said.
The council website said Seddon’s water would be shut off again on November 2 for further maintenance work.
Affected areas by Wednesday’s works were those supplied by the Awatere Water Supply (Birch Scheme), on Marama Rd from the Seddon/Awatere Cemetery to the Seddon township, Seaview Rd, Reserve Rd, State Highway 1 between Seddon township and Blind River Loop Rd, and Blind River Loop Rd from State Highway 1 to 332 Blind River Loop Rd.