Questions over water outage
Thames’ water off after raw water supply line damaged
Thames residents in the Kauaeranga area were left waiting for their water supply to return to “normal” after a contractor damaged a raw water supply line.
Thames-coromandel District Council is yet to address specific questions about the incident, regarding the cost of repairs, what it considered ‘normal’ water storage levels to be, and how many residents were affected.
Level 5 water restrictions for Thames were put in place following the incident on March 22.
Mayor Len Salt, on Wednesday last week, did not have specific details, but said council staffers spent “all weekend on it”.
“I don’t know the operational specifics; we did go into water restrictions for a brief time.”
Early on the same day, a council spokesperson confirmed water storage for both raw (untreated) and treated water increased to a level that allowed water restrictions to be lifted at 4pm on March 26.
“By about noon today [March 27] water supply to residents in the Kauaeranga Valley should be normal.”
Hauraki Coromandel Post on March 25, asked the council what happened, how the water supply was damaged, when and where it happened, how much lower than normal were water supplies, what was considered to be normal supply, how had the repairs been difficult to complete, what repairs were needed, estimated costs, how many residents had been impacted, and an estimate of when repairs would be completed, and things will be back to “normal”.
On March 26, a council spokesperson confirmed a contractor had repaired the damaged pipe.
“It was an awkward site, difficult to work in, but the job was done,” the spokesperson said.
They said they were asking the water team regarding cost, and for the number of affected properties.
On March 27, the spokesperson again said they were asking the water team for the cost, and what the council considered “normal” water storage levels to be.
It had earlier been anticipated that normal supply would be restored by late evening on March 25 as a Level 5 water restriction for Thames had been put in place with a total watering ban until the raw water and treated water storage could be refilled back to normal levels. As of April 2, the council was yet to confirm estimated costs, how many residents had been impacted, and when things would be back to “normal”.