De-chlorinated taps may be on cards for Napier

De-chlorinated water spots are not common, with Hastings only one of the three places in New Zealand with special water stations. PHOTO/FILE

Napier residents will have their say on installing de-chlorinated water stations in the city through the Long Term Plan 2018-2028 process.

The majority of the city's water supply was chlorinated for most of 2017, after the secure bore status was removed. The Havelock North Water Inquiry stage 2 report then resulted in the permanent chlorination of the water supply.

Residents have been without a chlorine-free water source since taps supplying this were shut off as a health precaution in December.

At a Napier City Council meeting yesterday it agreed to defer a paper and instead consult on the provision of chlorine-filtered taps through the LTP process, after several councillors said the community should have input into the decision.

"This is a really important discussion, and I think it does need discussion as a community," Deputy Mayor Faye White said.

Napier may get chlorine-free taps

"It may be that I have my view on what we should do ... but I believe this is a community matter."

Council had been asked to give direction on whether any such water stations should be provided in Napier. Options had included doing nothing, to providing one station in the CBD, or four around Taradale/Greenmeadows, Marenui, Napier CBD, and Westshore/Bayview.

In a paper before council, council manager asset strategy Chris Dolley wrote some residents expressed a desire to consume "water free from residual chlorine post treatment".

Demand at the chlorine-free taps had been about 1000 litres per day, which indicated filling containers of up to 20-litre volume and about 50-100 residents using the tap daily, the report noted.

However de-chlorinated stations were not common, and came with risks.

Each tap would cost $33,000 to manufacture and install, plus another $15,000 for annual operating and maintenance. These costs were not included in the draft Long Term Plan budgets.

There was a known risk of some using contaminated containers to collect water, and the Havelock North inquiry had recommended a "robust" maintenance and monitoring programme be in place for such water stations.

Mr Dolley also noted the provision of de-chlorinated water stations could reinforce a "minority view" that chlorinated water was unsafe to drink, which was not the case.

Since Napier's taps were turned off, it is understood some residents have been travelling to Hastings to use its five public chlorine and fluoride filtered taps.