Vital upgrade of Waingake water treatment plant under way

Part of the district’s cyclone recovery is an upgrade to the Waingake water treatment plant which will include the installation of pre-treatment filters to remove silt and restore the plant back to pre-cyclone flows.Picture by Ben Cowper

A vital upgrade is under way at the Waingake water treatment plant to enable the region to cope better with drought conditions.

“During the upgrade the city’s water supply will be impacted, which means we’ll need to manage the city’s water demand,” Gisborne District Council community lifelines acting director Dave Hadfield said.

“To achieve this, restrictions on sprinklers may come into effect by the end of October.

“The reason for the restrictions is we may not be able to maintain capacity to our city reservoir tanks for pressure management, emergencies and firefighting purposes during this time.

“There is sufficient water for everyone but we’re asking households connected to the treated supply to please be mindful of their water use.

“While all three of the dams that supply 70 percent of Gisborne’s water supply are full going into summer, two of the three dams are still full of silt because of Cyclone Gabrielle in February,” Mr Hadfield said.

“The water in the Clapcott and Williams dams is visibly murky from multiple slips in the catchment and is too dirty to treat through the treatment plant’s sand filters.”

Mr Hadfield said to unlock the water stored in the Waingake Mangapoike dams, the council had already redirected water from the third and clean Sang dam directly to the Waingake water treatment plant.

The next phase of the project is the installation of pre-treatment filters (lamellas).

Mr Hadfield said the filters would remove the silt and help restore the Waingake water treatment plant back to pre-cyclone flows.

“Our goal is to instal the new filters by Christmas.”

Residents will start seeing a water conservation campaign this week that will continue over several months with predicted El Nino conditions likely to hit the district soon.

Right now, the water being supplied to Gisborne city and connected communities is from the Waipaoa River and the Waingake - Te Arai River blended with a small volume from the clean Sang dam.

“All the water is fully treated and is safe for use.

“The council is still heavily in recovery mode and this project will be another major step forward towards our district’s recovery.”