Treatment plant confirmed

The Far North District Council has contracted Broadspectrum to build a new water treatment plant at Omanaia, after what the council’s project delivery manager, Paul Carr, described as a competitive and open tender process.

The Ministry of Health will contribute $2.3 million to the $2.8m cost of construction and commissioning.

Mr Carr said Broadspectrum would begin construction this month, and expect to complete the project by the end of August 2019. At the request of hapu¯, construction would begin with karakia and a blessing of the site.

The project was good news for Omanaia residents who were connected to council water supplies, who for many years had been supplied with raw water before it reached the treatment plant at Rawene. The council had applied a permanent notice to boil water to those households.

Raw water would in future be treated to remove solids and organic matter, filtered and dosed to kill pathogens and protect it in the reticulation network.

“The new plant is going to be built near the Petaka Stream, currently the source of all the water for Rawene. We’ll treat the water right at the source, allowing treated water to then flow out to residents of both communities,” Mr Carr added.

Community representatives and hapu¯ had been unified in requesting that the council award the contract.

" The new plant is going to be built near the Petaka Stream, currently the source of all the water for Rawene."

Paul Carr, FNDC project delivery manager