A new drinking water source for Ranfurly is under investigation.

The Central Otago District Council (CODC) is carrying out exploration drilling along the Ranfurly Back Road.  

The town supply currently sources its water from Eweburn Creek.

A public statement released last week said the aim of the investigation was to understand the geology of the location, for a potential new drinking water source for the Ranfurly water supply.

For more than a year, council has been investigating options to provide a water supply for Ranfurly that complies with the New Zealand Drinking Water Standards and improves its resilience. 

There were turbidity and quantity issues with the existing source water, and the community had faced two boil water notices in the past year when the existing reservoir started running low.

When reservoirs were critically low, they could compromise drinking water safety, however the National Public Health Service (NPHS) had not been informed of any notifiable diseases.

Medical Officer of Health Dr Michael Butchard said the NPHS team had analysed the past three months of notifications in the Southern district, and not found any notifications in Ranfurly attributed to contaminated drinking water.

“During this three-month period, there has only been one enteric notification from Ranfurly, received on October 29. 

‘’This person has been sent a questionnaire to complete as part of our routine investigation process.”

Last summer the Ranfurly drinking water supply almost dried up and residents were put on water restrictions. FILE SHOT

During the first two weeks of February this year, there was a water supply event on the Ranfurly water supply which resulted in a Conserve Water Notice being put in place on February 4, a water restriction on February 7 and a Boil Water Notice for eight days from February 8 to 16.

Council staff acknowledged at the time there were some shortcomings of the response, with failings by both the contractor and the CODC, when the East Ewe Burn weir intake screen hadn’t been checked for 11 days.

In a statement, Fulton Hogan said they took the issue seriously and had made significant changes. The company apologised to the community for the impact of the water restrictions.

Just recently in early October there was another boil water notice for residents when the reservoir was critically low.

The work that was being done to upgrade Māniototo water supplies would be progressed to the point where it would be ready for inclusion in the investment programme for the 2024 Long-term Plan.

A press release from council following the February event said initial rough estimates to upgrade water treatment plants were based on the expectation that simple filtration, UV treatment, and chlorination would achieve compliance. 

“In order for this to occur the source water quality would have to be consistently high quality.  

This is not achievable for any of the water supplies in Central Otago, as water is either sourced from open water sources, or shallow bores.”