Dirty water complaints in Napier have risen rapidly in recent months.
Napier City Council received 100 complaints about dirty water in January (file picture). Photo: 123RF
In November the city council only had 29 complaints, but they jumped to 66 in December and to 100 in January.
Napier has had a long standing problem with brown water, due to chlorine being added in the city's water supply five years ago.
The chlorine reacts with naturally occurring manganese in some of the bores, making the water brown when it comes out of the taps.
Due to increased demand in the warmer months, one of the bores with manganese was reintroduced into the water supply on 10 November.
The council said this led to an increased number of complaints in the suburbs fed by this bore, such as Mataruahou (Napier Hill), Marewa and Te Awa, as well as in the CBD.
The council said this had not happened to this extent in these areas before.
Napier City Council water strategy manager Russell Bond said this was "seasonal".
"Not all of our water bores have the manganese concentration that cause the discolouration. We tend to stagger when we draw water from the bores. The ones with the manganese we only use during the summer months when we've got high demand."
He said the council was planning to replace these manganese filled bores with three new ones by the end of the year, along with a treatment plan.
"We're looking at trying to offset that and bring in the cleaner water, so we can minimise the discolouration quite considerably.
"We do sympathise, we are almost there, the bores and the treatment plant - we're looking at having them completed and online this year - so we're months away - we do thanks Napier for their patience."
The council has committed to looking at removing chlorine from the water supply, but it is estimated it will take 22 years and cost nearly $300 million.
Napier Dirty Water Complaints by month
September 2021 - 9
October - 58
November - 29
December - 66
January 2022 - 100