Rangitikei District Council installs new water filter tap to combat water issues

Arno Benadie, principal advisor for Infrastructure at Rangitikei District Council, is glad to be offering Marton residents a filtered water tap for clean drinking water. Photo / Bevan Conley

Rangitikei District Council has installed a filtered water tap in Marton following the town's ongoing water issues.

The new installment is at the Marton War Memorial Hall on Wellington Rd and is free for the community to use.

"Due to Council's water source at this time of the year there are taste and odour issues in the Marton drinking water from algae, the water is still safe to drink but can taste and smell unpleasant," executive office manager Carol Gordon said.

Gordon said people were welcome to bring their own containers to the facility and fill them up, with no limit to the amount they can take.

Gordon said the taps operate on a time delay so when the tap is pressed it runs for approximately seven seconds.

For safety measures, Gordon said there is an automatic cut off to ensure the tap cannot be left on.

"Since the system was installed on Friday approximately 1900 litres of water has been drawn from the system."

Gordon said the council is putting together a water strategy that will purpose medium and long term solutions.

"This is a stop gap at the moment, recognising that Marton drinking water has the taste and odour issues at this time of the year."

The new tap has been fully funded by council and at this stage only one has been installed.