Believe it or not, Kaitāia to finally get Sweetwater delivery on Tuesday

Kaitāia residents should finally start having water from the Sweetwater Aquifer flowing into their homes from Tuesday, February 18, the Far North District Council says.

After a number of false starts, missed deadlines and an abatement notice from the country’s top environmental watchdog, Kaitāia should finally start having water from the Sweetwater Aquifer from Tuesday.

And while many will not be holding their breath for the long-awaited Sweetwater - after all Far North District Council has already given, and failed to meet, three promised dates for the water - the council is sure this time it will be ready.

The council started the Sweetwaters project in 2011, with the scheme gathering pace after the 2020 drought that hit Northland.

It was designed to provide clean drinking water for Kaitāia and surrounds and do away with the need to take water from the vulnerable Awanui River. The situation got so bad that water tanks had to be placed in Kaitāia as the Awanui River ran extremely low during the drought.

But the project has been dogged with problems and the project has now soaked up $17 million of ratepayer money, with the final cost likely to top $20m. It’s missed three deadlines over the past two years to deliver the water, but the council says the wait will be over finally this week.

It had hoped to have the supply flowing through traps on Friday, but FNDC head of infrastructure Tanya Proctor said that was not possible.

“Work related to commissioning additions to the water treatment plant in Kaitāia has progressed as planned and operators are ready to start introducing water from the Sweetwater bores to the Kaitāia supply,” Proctor said.

“However, a final compliance check has forced a delay. Water quality testing requires water to sit in the pipes for 24 hours and for samples then to be tested by a laboratory. Frustratingly, lab testing could not be undertaken on Friday or Saturday.

“This will now be completed today [Monday]. We anticipate those test results will give us the go-ahead to introduce water from the Sweetwater bores to the Kaitāia supply on Tuesday.”

If the water does finally flow through it will provide some relief for the council and householders as the Far North is still in danger of a drought this summer.

The council initially promised the water would be flowing through taps in the town in December 2023, then again in December last year, but issues prevented that.

But Te Hiku ward district councillor Mate Radich said he would only believe it when he tasted the Sweetwater himself because previous promises had failed to deliver.

Radich has previously called the entire project a debacle that has taken too long and cost far too much.

One issue holding up the project was sourcing a membrane filter from overseas to install at the Kaitāia Water Treatment Plant to treat both the Sweetwater bore and Awanui River sources. FNDC then said the water would be ready by the end of December, but again that deadline was missed.

Compounding delays, the Government’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) said on May 10 it issued an abatement notice to FNDC in relation to unauthorised discharge of water from Sweetwater bores.

The abatement notice is still in place, but the council said it was unable to comment further on why it was still in place at this stage.