Ashburton District Council is this month beginning to extend its Upper Hakatere water service to their neighbours in Lower Hakatere in a move that will help ensure safe drinking water for more residents.

Lower Hakatere, located at the Ashburton/Hakatere river-mouth on the east coast of the district is currently serviced by a private water supply, but a greater national emphasis on drinking water standards and compliance has prompted the Council to take over the service by connecting the village to its Upper Hakatere scheme.

Infrastructure Services Group Manager, Neil McCann says, "We are pleased to be optimising the use of our existing water treatment infrastructure to service more people in this community.

"Once completed, all Hakatere residents will have access to water that undergoes the treatment, testing and infrastructure maintenance that we provide our schemes. This is a really beneficial upgrade."

Ashburton Contracting Ltd (ACL), working on behalf of the Council, are starting the project today (Tuesday 9 February).

The upgrade is expected to take three weeks to complete and will involve installing a 230 metre long connection from the current treatment facility off River Road heading east towards the Lower Hakatere huts.

Upper Hakatere residents will experience a temporary water shutdown when the connection is switched on, but advance notice will be given before this is carried out.

The project will not impact any roads and is being carried out on Council land.

After the new connection is finished, the private supply will be switched off at a later date when residents are ready to be transferred onto the new combined scheme.