In a week where the quality of drinking water has become both a regional and national concern, the Central Otago District Council (CODC), at its monthly meeting yesterday, received a report on a water incident in Ranfurly in February this year.

At that time, the Ranfurly water supply experienced demand that exceeded supply, resulting 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. 

Presenting a comprehensive report on the incident, CODC Three Waters director Julie Muir said it outlined how the Ranfurly supply was set up and identified actions to take to avoid a similar occurrence.

“There were a number of failings that we can learn from and put steps in place so it won’t happen again,” she said.

“In this event, council’s water team took quite a passive role. We are now taking a more active role.”

The report states that the contractor’s response to the event, and council oversight of what was occurring, were both inadequate, and resulted in significant impact to residents and businesses in Ranfurly. This was due to the irrigation restriction and boil water notice being imposed for eight days.

“The event was not managed as a potential critical incident from the outset, despite it being clear that there was a water supply and water demand issue that was resulting in a reduction in reservoir levels,” the report reads.

Maniototo Ward councillor Stu Duncan said that locals and elected members had expressed concerns at the time but felt those concerns had been brushed off.

Julie said that all correspondence had been checked when preparing the report and there were no records of conversations between council staff and elected members on the water supply. It was believed conversations were held with the contractor, Fulton Hogan.

“These things need to be escalated up the chain,” Julie said.

“That did not happen in this instance.”

The recommended actions required to prevent a similar incident were extensive, with some already implemented.

These included strengthening water intake inspections and access; making arrangements for a Hawkdun Irrigation back-up source; defining what constituted a critical three waters incident and putting protocols in place to manage it; and progressing upgrade of the Maniototo water supplies to meet New Zealand Drinking Water Standards and improve resilience to climatic events. 

The council received the report; agreed to the actions outlined in it; directed the chief executive officer to provide a report on progress in delivering these actions to the December 13 council meeting.

It also agreed to progress the business case work to guide investment in water treatment upgrades for the Maniototo water supplies to meet New Zealand Drinking Waters Standard compliance and improve resilience.

Check back with The Central App tomorrow for other matters raised at yesterday’s council meeting.