Small community water supply upgrades

Work on ensuring all of our Hastings public drinking water supplies meet new national standards is well underway, including on eight supplies that provide drinking water to our small communities.

The eight community supplies and the number of connections to them are:

Each water supply is being managed as a discrete project (under the one Community Supplies Project umbrella) as each of them have different requirements depending on the water source and the age and state of the existing infrastructure.

The upgrade of small community drinking water is a significant contributor to meeting the aims of the Hastings Drinking Water Strategy (2018). That strategy recognises that safe drinking water is Council’s number one priority.

It was prepared in the wake of the Havelock North water crisis in 2016 and the ensuing Government Inquiry into the reasons for the contamination. That event showed us and the rest of New Zealand just how vulnerable our drinking water supplies can be.

Each of the eight community supplies has been assessed and a preferred plan to improve safety, capacity and resilience prepared. Some are able to be improved on the current sites using the existing water source, while others will benefit from a new water source and new site.

All supplies are being treated with UV light and will continue to be chlorinated. Depending on the source, some supplies also require filtration prior to UV treatment.

Filtration (where required) and UV light treat the water at point of contact, while chlorine keeps the water safe as it travels through the pipe network to homes, schools and businesses.

The timing of improvements on the eight supplies varies, however it is estimated that all will be completed by mid to late 2022.

Information on progress and completed projects is being added to this page as it becomes available.