Ashburton District Council has arranged alternative safe drinking water supplies at Methven and Mt Somers while temporary boil water notices are in place on the community schemes following the weekend’s rain.

Water tanks have been delivered to Mt Somers Springburn School and to the Mt Somers fire station, and an ACL water tanker is stationed at Methven, near the Methven Medical Centre. Smaller portable tanks have also been set up at Methven schools, pre-schools and Methven House.

Chief Executive Hamish Riach said the tanker at Methven would be topping up the portable tanks, and doing business delivery runs mid-morning and between 1-2pm on a daily basis, as in previous weather events.

“People can go to the main street site with their clean containers and fill up at any time. These alternative water sources will be operational in Methven and Mt Somers until Council gives the all clear.”

Monitoring equipment at the Mt Somers and the Methven water treatment facilities detected high levels of turbidity during the weekend’s heavy rain. Although the treatment equipment is working correctly, it is less effective during periods of high turbidity.

The boil water notices were issued as a precaution, and they will stay in place until the water supplies have had three consecutive clear tests.

People connected to the schemes were advised to boil their drinking water, and water used in food preparation and for hygiene purposes, for at least a minute before consumption.

At this stage, there is no concern for the Methven-Springfield water supply.

Mr Riach said water in the tankers did not need to be boiled and was safe for use. The tanker would stay as long as it was needed.

“We are continuously monitoring water coming through the treatment plants and will lift the boil water notices as soon as we can.

”The good news is that we are just weeks away from commissioning the new Methven/Methven-Springfield membrane treatment plant, which hugely improves the resilience of Methven’s drinking water scheme and should bring an end to boil water notices after periods of poor weather like we’ve just experienced.”