Water and Sewerage Services
Water
- There are currently 13 Council owned water schemes in the District
- Extracting water from 24 different sources.
The schemes are overseen by Water Committees with delegated responsibilities for the planning and development of their schemes.
Current Boil Water Notice
November 2011 Rural Water Supplies
A reminder that it is an offence to tamper with the restricting device that controls the flow of scheme water to your tank.
In accordance with our Fees and Charges a first offence incurs a penalty of $511.11. A penalty of $1022.22 applies to a second offence.
Your tampering negatively impacts on the supply to others.
On-demand water is supplied to:
- 8 of the Urban Communities in the District from 7 high pressure schemes consisting of 9 water intakes and 60 km of pipe.
Other small Urban Communities:
- Leithfield
- Cheviot
- Gore Bay
- Rotherham
- Greta Valley
- Amberley Beach
- Motunau Beach
These Communities are supplied via tanks from restricted rural supplies. All Rural Communities in the District are serviced by Council operated restricted-flow water supplies providing water to consumers as “units” of water supplied into individual tanks. One unit is 1800 litres supplied over 24 hours, except for Balmoral and Amuri Plains, where a unit is 1000 litres per day. The Hurunui and Cheviot Rural Water Schemes cover four separate supplies within each of their areas. The Ashley Scheme also has four distinct sources and includes part of the Waimakariri District within its boundaries.
All townships with on-demand supplies, except Leithfield Beach have metered connections and charges are made on actual water consumption. The metres are read in March each year and ratepayers are advised of their annual consumption and costs in their first quarterly rate demand each year.
Having consumers represented at the local level in Water Committees is considered to be one of the main strengths of the current organisation and there is no intention to diminish the impact and contribution of these Committees. However, with rural water rates ranging from $71 a unit to $610, and on-demand schemes ranging from $80 per property to $184, there is the need to consider if there is a benefit in funding all schemes by a District-wide rate to improve economies of scale.
The Council intends to retain the ownership of all public water supply assets on behalf of the Communities that these facilities serve. Asset management, basic design work, contract documentation, tendering, record keeping, operation and routine repair and maintenance is carried out by the Council's staff.
Most of the network reticulation is in good repair and operating under a policy of renewal when necessary, reticulation should remain serviceable indefinitely. Pumps, controls, telemetry (data sent back to the Council office by radio) and water treatment devices are repaired as the need arises and are replaced as the benefits of repair are outweighed by replacement – usually every 12 – 20 years. Reservoirs, weirs, bores, and ponds are maintained on an ongoing basis. Ages of on-demand water networks is quite recent, with the earliest networks dating to 1955 (Amberley).
Frequently asked questions re water
Sewerage
This activity provides for the collection, treatment and disposal of sewage from urban areas of the District in seven separate schemes comprising 14 sewer pump stations and 65 km of pipe works. (Amberley and Districts, Cheviot, Greta Valley, Motunau Beach, Hanmer Springs, Hawarden and Waikari).
Each scheme is self funding with revenue obtained by uniform annual charge on each rateable assessment having access to the respective scheme.
Stormwater Drainage
Stormwater drainage schemes which were set up by the Regional Council as rating areas, are administered by the Council on behalf of ratepayers in specific areas. In some other areas, where Ward Committees have accepted responsibility for maintaining drains, funding is by separate rate.