Problem of burst pipes persists

Residents of a small North Taranaki village claim the council is pouring money down the drain patching up rotten asbestos water supply pipes rather than replacing the ageing infrastructure.

In the last 12 months Urenui residents say the pipes have burst five times, three in the past two months, and the problem has been ongoing for years.

New Plymouth District Council infrastructure manager David Langford said the organisation managed more than 800 kilometres of pipes, of varying ages, and was planning to invest $44.5 million to upgrade water networks across the district in the next decade.

In an emailed statement, Langford acknowledged there had been a number of leaks during the last year which had been repaired. He did not answers questions related to how much the repair work had cost.

‘‘We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused and planning work has started on replacing some of these pipes. We will continue to talk with residents as we progress this job.’’

Dave and Julie Allerton, who live in Ngakoti St, said torrents of water exploded out of the ground, up to a metre high, every time a pipe burst.

‘‘It’s unbelievable how much water shoots up,’’ Julie said.

‘‘The ground erupts, it really just lifts up,’’ Dave added. He said council staff told him the work to replace the pipes had been scheduled but the village would have to wait until after it had been done in Oakura and Inglewood.

‘‘I said to him, look if these pipes keep breaking down here what are you going to do, and he said they would have to look at changing the schedule.’’

Dave wanted to see the work brought forward to stop the ongoing problems.

He said the burst pipes affected the whole village and campground on the opposite side of the river.

‘‘We have no water, straight away the village doesn’t have water until they shut off down here, then the village comes back on and the rest of us have to wait.

‘‘In the height of the summer if it happened they would lose water over at the beach as well.’’

Dave, the former Urenui deputy fire chief, said the problems could also result in the loss of property and, potentially, lives. ‘‘If it happened at the wrong time the town is exposed. The risk becomes much higher.’’

The last time the main burst outside the Allertons’ property in April they were away but fortunately their quick-thinking neighbours saved their house from any damage. ‘‘We were lucky it didn’t get into the house because the next door neighbours saw it happening and they came over with brooms and swept it away,’’ he said.

However, they weren’t so lucky a month later when torrential rain fell and, because the ground had lifted, it funnelled the flood waters into the bottom level of their home.

Langford encouraged anyone who saw a problem to contact the council and arrangements would be made to fix it.