The Napier City Council has appointed consultants to investigate how chlorine can be removed from the city's water network.
Photo: Michael Heim/ 123rf
The consultancy Pattle Delamore Partners has been appointed to carry it out the investigation, with the council approving spending up to $239,995 for it to deliver a "Chlorine Free Drinking Water Review."
The introduction of chlorine to the city's network in 2017, following the Havelock North water crisis in 2016 in which 5000 fell ill with campylobactor, has led to many residents regularly getting dirty brown water from their taps.
In 2017, the council discovered five positive E-coli results which showed faecal contamination in Napier's water supply and decided to chlorinate the water.
But the chlorine dislodged sediment in network's ageing pipes and reacted with maganese in the water, resulting in silty, brown water emerging from many residents' taps.
It became a major issue during the local body elections last year, with all major mayoral candidates pledging they would investigate removing chlorine from the city's network.
It is not known how long the review will take.