Levin drinking water upgraded
Levin’s drinking water is now protected from giardia and cryptosporidium after the opening of the upgraded water treatment plant.
The $6.4 million project should eliminate boil-water notices, and now allows the Levin Water Treatment Plant to comply with standards to guard the town supply against a group of microorganisms that includes giardia and cryptosporidium, which can cause serious illness.
The Ministry of Health website says screening of drinking water for this type of organism is difficult, so drinking-water standards required compliance by ensuring treatment processes can reliably remove them.
A council spokesperson said there had been no recorded outbreaks of illness as a result of these micro-organisms and all other Horowhenua water treatment facilities were compliant with the standards.
The plant was ‘‘first class’’, had ‘‘future-proofed’’ the town supply and was now compliant with the standards for these contaminants, Horowhenua District Council’s projects manager Gerry O’neill said.
The upgrade was formally opened on Tuesday by Associate Minister of Health Peter Dunne and Horowhenua mayor Michael Feyen, and blessed by iwi representatives.
It includes a new 6-million-litre, $2.5 million corrosion-resistant reservoir, which was officially put into use in May last year.
This increases the town’s water storage from 13 hours’ supply during peak demand in summer, to at least 24 hours’ supply in storage, a council spokesman said.
A new chemical dosing system and ultraviolet water treatment system were also installed at the Gladstone Rd depot, as well as a water clarifier.
Previously, if the river water was muddy, residents had to boil their drinking water, but the new clarifier will remove this need for this by effectively cleaning the silt from the Ohau River water that is used.
The council has also gained resource consent until the year 2042, to draw up to 15,000 cubic metres a day from the Ohau River, or 13,000 cum when the river is low.
Dunne said the council should be praised for the upgrade, which was part of a larger programme of water supply improvements in the district.
‘‘Council deserves to be congratulated on their foresight in doing this,’’ he said.
‘‘[Nationally,] we’ve seen too many incursions into the water system that have caused illness.’’
Feyen said the upgrade was an ‘‘amazing transformation’’.
‘‘It allows us to meet the needs of our current community and those to come.’’
The plant serves 20,000 people.