PLAN NEEDS WORK
Authorities in Christchurch are being forced to go to greater lengths to prove the city’s drinking water is safe after a government review found more work is needed to meet strict new standards.
The city council is fighting for supplies to remain chlorine-free in the face of a possible roll-out of mandatory treatment of drinking water in the wake of the 2016 Havelock North contamination that left 5000 people ill.
But a new safety plan submitted to the Ministry of Health in September has been branded inadequate, meaning it needs amending before being approved.
The plan, reviewed by four drinking water assessors, was found to have 80 elements that did not meet the ministry’s requirements to prove supplies are safe from potential contamination.
Council staff learned of the assessment in a report on Friday, and councillors will be briefed on its contents in the coming weeks.
The extent of the improvements needed is not year clear.
David Adamson, the council’s city services manager, said some of the findings could be addressed ‘‘relatively easily’’ through amendments to the water safety plan. Others would require discussion before the council’s response was finalised.
‘‘The report also has provision for us to appeal the findings within a two-month period, but our preference is to work in partnership with the panel to clarify and finalise the findings along with our approach.’’
Helen Beaumont, who is leading the council’s water infrastructure overhaul, said the onus would be on suppliers to prove water networks were safe and secure from contamination.
‘‘Here in Christchurch we know our source water is superb and the challenges are in maintaining that water quality and avoiding contamination at the wells, through the pump stations, in reservoirs and tanks, and through the pipework. The water safety plan sets out the risk management regime to ensure the water quality at the customer tap.’’
Under regulations announced last year, councils will have to chlorinate water as part of a ‘‘multi-barrier approach’’ unless they can satisfy a new regulator – which is not yet in place – they should be exempt.
But what needs to be done to meet the exemption criteria has not yet been decided, a situation Mayor Lianne Dalziel said in August had left councils ‘‘dancing with shadows’’.
The mayor also accused the Government of having a ‘‘jaundiced’’ view over water safety after it emerged Canterbury Medical Officer of Health Dr Alistair Humphrey had to personally step in and stop the ministry ordering blanket chlorination.
In June, the ministry stripped Canterbury’s drinking water assessor of the power to approve wells as being secure enough for chlorine to be removed.
The move led to large swathes of Christchurch having to have low levels of disinfectant until at least Christmas, despite the council’s well upgrades programme being on target to provide the entire city with chlorine-free water by the end of September.
The council has so far upgraded more than 110 of its 148 well heads and installed UV treatment facilities at main pumps in Beckenham, one of the city’s largest pump stations. Enough well heads have been upgraded to supply the city with water from secure wells, but the authority has to keep treating water until the water safety plan is approved.
A third of the city’s drinking water is chlorine-free, with the remainder on the lowest dose since treatment began in 2018.
The plan was found to have 80 elements that did not meet the ministry’s requirements to prove supplies are safe from potential contamination.