Safer drinking water in pipeline for Omanaia residents

Safer water is coming to Omanaia.

Safer drinking water is in the pipeline for Omanaia residents, after the Far North District Council voted last week to build a new $2.2 million treatment plant.

The plant will supply treated water to about 44 households that currently receive untreated water, while the council also plans to build raw water storage to reduce demand on the Petaka Stream during dry weather.

Most of the capital cost will be met from renewal funds and a $1.87 million Ministry of Health subsidy, with a targeted water rate covering the balance, which Mayor John Carter said would be significantly less rates than the $1200 a year estimated in the long-term plan 2015-25, which the council adopted before it obtained the subsidy.

Each assessment would receive a refund of $94.16, because the council had not completed capital works it rated for in 2016/17, while Omanaia households would also get a rates refund, because the council had overcharged them since it introduced the capital rate in 2013.

They should have been paying 60 per cent of the treated metered water rate and capital rate, but had been charged 65 per cent. Overpayments would be refunded in 2017/18 rate accounts.

Mr Carter described the decision to approve capital works for a new treatment plant as a milestone for Omanaia residents, who currently had to boil their water.

"I would like to acknowledge the hardship and injustice Omanaia hapu Ngati Kaharau and Ngati Hau have suffered for years, and thank them for working constructively with the council to find a solution to this historic issue," he said.

The decision was also good news for Rawene households, who currently relied on water from a treatment plant that would need replacing in the next 10 years.

"We have built some drought-resilience into the new water supply, but plan to explore other drought resilience options with hapu and communities," Mr Carter said.

He was pleased that the council was able to fund the new scheme in a way that minimised costs for Omanaia and Rawene ratepayers, but the district needed to talk about how it rated for water.

"The government has withdrawn subsidies for water and sewerage scheme upgrades, so infrastructure and affordability are foremost in our minds as we start to develop our long-term plan 2018-28," he said.

Council staff were calculating the new capital rates, and issue new rate assessments as soon as possible Until then, Rawene and Omanaia ratepayers were advised to pay the current water rates.