Tasman District Council staff are working on the costs to install filters on five supplies and will report back to council in the next month. (file image) Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Councils in the top of the South Island are grappling with the task of installing protozoa barriers on small, rural water supplies and finding the funding to do so.
It comes after water regulator Taumata Arowai named 27 councils, including Tasman and Marlborough, which do not have sufficient UV filtering facilities to protect against protozoa organisms - with a deadline of next June to produce funded plans for doing so.
In the Tasman District, the notice covers water supplies in Redwood Valley, Eighty-Eight Valley and Dovedale, affecting almost 1500 residents, and the stand-by water supply in Motueka which affects 3250 residents.
Council community infrastructure manager Richard Kirby said adding filters to small supplies would cost hundreds of thousands, or millions if filtration was also required.
"We're going to cost this up and obviously go back to council and tell our community what Taumata Arowai are requiring, and we're fearful about the reaction and response we're going to get."
In Dovedale and Eighty-Eight Valley, the water supplies were rural and mainly used for stock, but they were also connected to a number of homes, affecting about 450 people in each area.
The Dovedale supply had been under a permanent boil water notice for years due to the risk of organisms like protozoa, while Kirby said Eighty-Eight Valley residents were aware the water was not fully treated and they needed to take extra precautions.
Both rural water schemes were already in debt, and installing protozoa barriers would come at a considerable additional cost, which would question their viability, he said.
"Unfortunately, the situation is are we any better off now not having a water supply than having one that's got a boil water notice?
"Although these decisions are being made from a risk-based perspective, the people involved in those schemes are fully aware of the dangers of potential contamination and take their own mitigation measures."
Tasman District Council says adding filters to small supplies will cost hundreds of thousands, or millions if filtration is also required. Photo: RNZ / Tracy Neal
In the 30 years since the schemes were installed, the council was not aware of any sickness as a result of protozoa.
Kirby said Taumata Arowai staff had visited the rural supply schemes and understood the situation, but those employees had since left and he was unsure if that information had been relayed back to the organisation.
"It adds a whole lot of capital costs as well as additional operational costs that currently the two rural water supply schemes just can't fund."
In the case of the Motueka supply, Kirby said it was a standby bore, which was not used unless there was a problem with the Motueka Treatment Plant. It was commissioned last year and already had a UV barrier in place for protozoa.
Council would speak to Taumata Arowai about whether a protozoa barrier was required for the back-up supply, which would be used in case of emergencies, he said.
Staff were working on the costs to install filters on the five supplies and would report back to council in the next month.
Worry over possible supply constraints
In the Marlborough District, the notice covers water supplies in Awatere, Renwick, Havelock, the Riverlands industrial estate and the Wairau Valley township, affecting about 4750 people.
Operations and maintenance engineer Stephen Rooney said ultra filtration systems and UV filters were in the Wairau Valley treatment plant, which was completed in August at a cost of $2.6 million and was currently in its commissioning phase.
Marlborough District Council operations and maintenance engineer Stephen Rooney Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
"We've submitted a water safety plan to Taumata Arowai, advising them of that and showing that we've got a new plant at that site, so I was a little surprised to see that one on the list."
The same systems were being installed in the Renwick water treatment plant upgrade, which cost about $8.7m and was due to be completed by mid-2024.
There was a plan to install barriers on the remaining three supplies before the end of 2025, Rooney said.
Land had been purchased in Havelock and Riverlands, with design work underway for water treatment plants at estimated costs of $8.1m and $8.5m respectively.
Awatere is among the areas served a water notice by regulator Taumata Arowai. Photo: RNZ / Tracy Neal
The Awatere supply was a rural scheme, and Rooney said the plan was to install point of entry treatment devices at each of the households at an estimated cost of $1.5m.
Given the notice had been issued to 27 councils and covered 84 supplies, he said there were likely to be constraints over resources and the ability to secure filters and have them installed ahead of the deadline.
"There are a very small number of companies in New Zealand that provide water treatment solutions ... so if they're all trying to be engaged at one time, there might be struggle to meet some of the deadlines, but we're going to be doing our utmost to do so."
Taumata Arowai regulatory head Steve Taylor said the organisation wrote to all council, government, and private suppliers that shared the "same characteristics" as Queenstown last week, on the back of its cryptosporidium outbreak.
Councils had been given a deadline of 30 June 2024 to confirm a funded plan. Surface water suppliers have until 31 December 2024 to install a protozoa barrier, while bore water sources had a further 12 months to do the same.