The appearance of new water bores near Cromwell’s Alpha Street playing fields has drawn comment, with council staff acknowledging the site “looks ugly now” but will be screened and enclosed. 

Central Otago District Council capital projects programme manager Patrick Keenan told councillors at a meeting on Wednesday (October 29) the partially completed infrastructure would be less visible once final works were complete. 

“It looks ugly now,” Patrick said, “but it will look a lot better once we’ve got the hut around it.” 

The bores form part of the Cromwell Water Treatment Upgrade Project, which includes construction of a new treatment plant near the McNab Road reservoirs and upgrades to the town’s source water take. 

Three new bores are under construction near the Alpha Street playing fields in Cromwell. Image: The Central App

Councillor Cheryl Laws said she had visited the Alpha Street site and heard from at least one nearby resident who felt they had not been notified about the work. 

“They’re not angry - they understand that it’s necessary - but they said could they please be included,” Cheryl said. 

Patrick said the council had consulted with neighbours, particularly those most affected by the visual impact of the new infrastructure, on things like cladding colour, roofing, and plantings. 

“We’ve done a lot of work with the neighbours there,” he said.  

“We know it impacts them, so we’re working closely to mitigate that as much as possible.” 

Cheryl noted the bore heads were already “as tall as me” and would be even higher once the structures enclosing them were built. 

Council Three Waters group manager Julie Muir said newer legislative standards required bore heads to sit above ground, which helped prevent contamination and allowed easier maintenance access. 

Patrick said the site was on land managed by Land Information New Zealand and the council, and the organisation was within its rights to carry out the upgrade. 

“The proof will be in the pudding once we’ve constructed the building over those sites (the bore heads),” he said. 

The water treatment upgrade aims to cater for Cromwell’s growth and improve network resilience.  

A rising main was completed last year, and a temporary protozoa barrier - borrowed from Queenstown Lakes District Council - has been installed to meet national regulations while the works continue. 

Julie told councillors the water regulator had indicated that without the interim protozoa fix a “boil water” notice for Cromwell would have been “quite likely”.

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