Heavy rain, power cut, makes town’s water undrinkable

Tankers have been ushered into Coromandel to provide water for residents while the town supply remains undrinkable.

But a local councillor is assuring residents there is ‘‘no nasties’’ in the water, and pledged to take a swig from the tap to prove it.

A power failure at the water treatment plant on Sunday night, combined with a pipe leak and heavy rainfall, lead to the overloading of the plant’s clarifier – which ‘cleans’ the water prior to it being treated through the filters.

This caused a ‘boil water’ notice to be issued for Coromandel Town, and it is expected to take until tomorrow for the problem to be rectified.

‘‘Our staff have been in touch with the local cafe´ s and will continue to contact them to ascertain what specific assistance we can provide,’’ ThamesCoromandel District Council’s infrastructure manager Mohamed Imtiaz said.

Coromandel Ward councillor John Morrissey has been keeping residents updated through social media, and said he couldn’t believe businesses’ bad luck so soon after the coronavirus lockdown.

‘‘They’ve gone through Covid, and now for the businesses having to face this, it is just a perfect storm and it’s not acceptable,’’ he told

‘‘Pipe failure, power failure, turbidity in the water because of the rain, and the three came together and caused this issue. It’s no one’s fault, but a combination of a number of things happening at once.’’

Yesterday morning, Morrissey posted online that he spoke with council’s chief executive Rob Williams over the organisation’s mixed messages to businesses.

He told residents he was going to ‘‘stick his neck out’’ and say the water was not going to hurt anybody.

‘‘Our water has been treated the whole way through and there is no E. coli or other nasties in it,’’ he said.

Council said it had no official reports of any cases of illness relating to the water.

It was keeping the Waikato District Health Board informed, but urged residents to go to the doctor if they felt unwell. A water tanker is stationed at the parking area opposite 355 Kapanga Road and at Patukirikiri Reserve, Wharf Road.