Installation of new UV disinfection equipment at the Bridge Street drinking water treatment plant has been completed - it is one of the final upgrades in a $10 million project spanning six Council drinking water supplies.

The project involved installing UV equipment at drinking water supplies for Hinds, Mayfield, Rakaia, Chertsey, Dromore and Ashburton, as required by national drinking water rules. The Mt Somers and Methven water plants already have UV equipment.

Bridge Street is one of four treatment plants on the Ashburton supply and follows Argyle Park and Tinwald to now have UV in place. Work is about to start at the Ashburton Domain.

The domain’s water treatment plant is on the corner of West Street/SH1 and Walnut Avenue. A work zone has already been fenced off, but access to the public toilets nearby remains.

Group Manager of Infrastructure Neil McCann said the upgrades are critical for ensuring Council drinking water supplies meet 100 per cent compliance with the new drinking water assurance rules.

“The rules are about ensuring our drinking water is the safest it can be, and we have a head start in that because most of our water sources are deep wells. The rules are also about monitoring in real time, and as the UV equipment has been installed, we’ve also updated electrical components so the treatment plants can be constantly remotely monitored and controlled.

“It’s quite sophisticated technology and if there are unexpected readings, the plants can automatically shut themselves down.”

Mr McCann said the upcoming work at the domain treatment plant has potential to cause temporary low water pressure on the Ashburton supply.

“We’ll be keeping an eye on the operations of all four treatment plants on the Ashburton scheme, but from time to time water pressure may not be what residents are used to.”

The work is scheduled to be completed ahead of Christmas.

A new building at Dromore for the UV equipment has just started and is also expected to be completed by Christmas.

The new treatment plant under construction at Chertsey should be operational by November.