"It is known as the heart of the 70 mile bush and has a population of 2760 people with over 1000 homes that will be supplied water from this plant.
"The town like all our towns in the Tararua District is experiencing unprecedented growth.
"Here in Pahiatua we have two primary schools and one college. Today, we are privileged to be joined by our local Tararua College and their Kapa Haka group Tama Tu Tama Ora. We are very proud of these young people and their achievements – in their culture, their performance and participation in sport and they are achieving well academically.
"Pahiatua has two water sources - our bore, located here, and the Mangatainoka River.
"The people of Pahiatua have been patient and at times run out of patience, waiting for a consistent supply of quality water. The bore water was good - we hit problems when the bore and water from the famous Mangatainoka River needs to be combined to meet the town's demands. This, as you can imagine is incredibly difficult in bad weather with a fast flowing river. Achieving consistent clarity and taste was challenging.
"In 2016 and following Havelock North, we experienced for the first time a very low E. coli reading from our bore water source. We were unable to trace the source and tightened all procedures as a precaution.
"This set in motion the investigation into an alternate water source. After divining and drilling both proved unsuccessful, the challenge given to chief executive Blair King was to investigate a way to blend both the river source and our bore source to meet demand.
"With the Havelock North contamination front of mind, and the knowledge gained from the review, our plant was designed not at the lowest capital cost but the best whole of life cost.
"We needed to plan for a changing climate and last year in, we experienced our driest summer on record for 50 years in the Tararua District.
"Further investment has been made in Pahiatua with the installation of a 6000 cubic metre storage tank holding an additional 4.5-5 days storage of treated water.
"The Tararua District Council has focused on enabling growth and this plant delivers on that aspiration.
"Today the Prime Minister will open a Water Treatment Plant with the most state of the art technology in New Zealand, right here in Pahiatua.
"The Government has supported this investment by the council, through the Capital Assistance Programme which was crucial given our small ratepayer base," she said.
Chief executive officer for Tararua District Council, Blair King, said, "This treatment plant and the associated reservoir above Wakeman Street, is part of the 'enabling works' to help Pahiatua prosper.
"It required courage on behalf of councillors to approve the budget needed, and the result is this positive legacy created by staff across Filtec, Morris and Bailey, Beca, Kenetic, council and other parties.
"I wish to acknowledge the co-operation of the adjoining landowners for council to buy the required site, and the patience shown during construction.
"We chose a collaborative engagement to design and build this plant, rather than the traditional engineering design and tender. This ensured progress throughout drought and pandemic, and all parties knew their input would help us collectively optimise the plant to handle growth, variability in raw water, and new external reporting rules," he said.
"This infrastructure project is innovative, it has many firsts and will serve many generations to come," said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. "It is what the community in Pahiatua deserves. It is really world-class - we need to keep doing it across the country."
■ More photos next week
