Water treatment ongoing process
With precautionary boil water notices issued to both Pongaroa and Dannevirke last week it is pleasing to report systems are being put in place to increase resilience.
Akitio’s water treatment is about to receive a state-of-the-art water treatment plant, just awaiting good weather to be installed.
The plant is housed within a 6-metre storage container which will be transported to its site high in the hills near the water source. It will require a digger to improve the track and to carry in its precious cargo.
The plant contains six filters which cleanse the water — two macrolight, two media and two softeners — before it goes through a UV filter and chlorination. They are very hightech, capable of taking themselves off-line one at a time to clean their own filter lines.
The plant was easier to construct and test in town, then transport it to the site. On June 5 it was fully functioning prior to going to the coast.
TDC projects engineer Eric Bonny can monitor and manage the plant remotely from his laptop. He uses SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) software to monitor the whole Tararua network and can find out about any event related to water intake or wastewater in the Tararua within 20 minutes.
Akitio’s treatment plant had been planned long before the Havelock North crisis put the spotlight on water cleanliness and it fully complies with the latest regulations. It cost $180,000 to build.
Meanwhile, Pongaroa’s treatment plant is under construction with the piping complete. It is a much larger plant than Akitio, being housed in a 7 by 7 metre building. Two 20,000 litre concrete tanks and fencing is required to be followed by an AVG filtration filter.
Peter Wimsett, TDC manager of district strategy and development, said he hopes the $650,000 project will be operational by July 31. The council received a $393,000 subsidy from the Ministry of Health for the work.
Pahiatua’s water treatment plant is in the design stage but the site is being prepared.
Dannevirke was issued with a precautionary boil water notice June 14 due to equipment malfunction. The equipment failure meant water was temporarily being drawn directly from the river intake and while the water was still being chlorinated it required boiling before use for consumption. Repairs have now been completed at the Dannevirke Water Treatment plant and the notice lifted.
Akitio’s treatment plant had been planned long before the Havelock North crisis put the spotlight on water cleanliness and it fully complies with the latest regulations.