Water scheme upgrade to cost users $24m
A $24 million upgrade to a rural South Canterbury water scheme will be funded by those connected to it.
The Downlands Water Scheme, which covers 78,000 hectares and serves about 5100 people – through 2300 connections – along with a larger number of livestock in South Canterbury, was built in the late 1930s.
Timaru District Council drainage manager Grant Hall said the upgrade was required to meet the New Zealand Drinking Water Standards, as well as building in an increased level of capacity and reliability required by changes in the climate.
‘‘This is one of the most significant upgrades of the Downlands water supply scheme since it was built.
"There are a significant number of improvements taking place. One of the largest single parts of the project is the renewal of the Te Ana Wai trunk main. This is the backbone of the whole system, and it has reached the end of its service life.
‘‘We are also undertaking significant works at the system intake to improve its quality, safety and resilience. This includes a new treatment plant that will meet standards for protozoa and bacteria, as well as increased water storage to provide a buffer in periods of low river water quality. This increases the reliability of supply and will reduce the necessity to issue boil water notices.’’
Hall said the upgrade was budgeted at $24m and was expected to be completed in the 2021-22 financial year. However, he could not give a date for when construction was likely to begin.
‘‘The total budget for the project . . . will be met by Downlands users via accrued asset replacement funds, and lending.
‘‘This is a multi-generational-level project, so will be funded over a period of time. This will include staged increases over time, to reflect the cost of providing increased service levels.
‘‘The trunk main upgrade is in the final design stages. The rest of the project is at the investigation and design stage.’’
Hall said charges for rural water schemes were different to the flat fee urban users were charged.
‘‘Downlands users are charged fees based on their usage based on the amount of water supplied. The current fees are $453 annum per tank supplied, plus $162 per annum per 1000 litres daily supply.’’
Timaru District deputy mayor Richard Lyon, a user of the scheme, said the project had been several years in the making. ‘‘It’s taken a lot of effort even to get it to this stage.
‘‘We’ve been planning our way to the first stage, and we expect that tenders will be going out soon.’’
Lyon said he was not surprised by the $24m figure.
‘‘It’s a massive scheme, and the money isn’t going to be spent all at once.’’
Although 82 per cent of the scheme covers the Timaru District area, there are also parts of it in the Mackenzie and Waimate Districts.
‘‘We’re looking for some resilience in the scheme. We need to bring it up to the latest standards for drinking water quality, but also looking to possibly increase the allocation of the supply,’’ Lyon said.