‘Urgency’ to upgrade alpine village water

LAKE Ohau Alpine Village’s drinking water supply urgently needs an upgrade that must be carried out next year to meet requirements under government legislation.

At a meeting of the Ahuriri Community Board this week, board members supported a recommendation to begin consulting the community and provide people with information on what the upgrade would involve.

About 60 houses are connected to the water supply, made up of ondemand and restricted connections to permanent residents and holiday homes.

A report to the board by Waitaki District Council project management engineer Michael Goldingham said the upgrade was originally scheduled to be completed in 2016, but was delayed due to ‘‘resourcing issues’’ and other projects being given priority, such as the HamNak water pipeline project connecting the Oamaru town water supply to Hampden and Moeraki, completed earlier this year.

However, the Lake Ohau project had to proceed next year or it risked not meeting timeframes set out in the Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2007.

‘‘The Lake Ohau village supply is now deemed to be the highest risk out of the remaining noncompliant supplies in the district and the upgrade must be completed as a matter of urgency,’’ the report said.

While a ‘‘technical upgrade solution’’ had been decided on, the report said there was ‘‘scope for negotiation’’ about service levels, which included chlorination.

The village is a 136lot alpine subdivision next to Lake Ohau.

Consultation is expected to start this month.