23 Mar 2018

Share this story

Contractors are doing final equipment checks before starting the temporary treatment of the water supply in the Brooklands and Kainga area on Monday.

City Services General Manager David Adamson said the decision to start in that area was made because it was a relatively small water zone with a population of about 1600 that was isolated from the rest of the network.

On 25 January the Council agreed to temporarily chlorinate the water supply to Christchurch City and Banks Peninsula on the advice of public health professionals because there is a very small risk of contamination through our infrastructure.

“We’ll be phasing temporary chlorination in across the city, starting on Monday with Brooklands/Kainga and Spencerville. Then over the coming weeks, we will be rolling it out across the city, including Riccarton, Halswell, Parklands, the Heathcote Valley and Lyttelton Harbour. We are hoping to have the rollout complete by the end of April.

The two largest zones, northwest and central, would be last to be treated. The northwest zone stretches from Belfast through to Yaldhurst and includes parts of Riccarton and Addington and supplies 80,000 people.  The central zone supplies 255,000 people from Spreydon and Cashmere as well as in Papanui and Grassmere and across to Linwood, Aranui and New Brighton.

The map on our website showing which areas of the city are being treated with chlorine will be updated throughout.

“While we’ve been getting ready for treatment we’ve also been working to reduce the contamination risk by installing pumps to remove any water that may get into well heads,” Mr Adamson said.

“We’re also inspecting them more often and, where there is water present, treating that water to kill any bacteria.”

The Council decision to temporary chlorinate the water supply was clear this was for up to 12 months. Council and contractors are doing everything they can to stay within this timeframe.

You and your water

If you are concerned about the taste or smell of drinking water, you can keep a jug of water in the fridge and the smell will reduce over time.

Chlorine and any associated by-products can removed by using a granulated activated carbon (GAC) filter. These are available from hardware supplies stores and water filter companies.