New filtration and UV disinfection equipment at the Hinds water treatment plant will be commissioned this week, with no disruption for those connected to the township’s supply.

Drinking water for Hinds comes from a 102m bore and under new drinking water quality assurance rules, the treatment plant needed extra filtration, UV disinfection and chlorination.

Infrastructure and Open Spaces Group Manager Neil McCann said water from the deep bore was safe to drink, but Council was required to meet new national rules.

“By the end of the year, we will have upgraded all the Council drinking water supplies that needed to meet the new rules. It’s a big piece of work, but the projects are tracking on time and on budget.”

At Hinds, contractors built a new building to house the new filtration and UV equipment and it will be fully operational as part of the treatment plant by Friday.

Mr McCann said the cost of the work at Hinds was about $630,000 and $100,000 was saved by re-using UV equipment from Methven’s former water treatment plant. A new plant for Methven was built in 2023.

“There’ll be no disruption during commissioning to the Hinds water supply, which delivers drinking water to about 340 people living in the township.”

The Hinds upgrade was delivered by ARC Projects; all the drinking water upgrades are being done by either ARC or Ashburton Contracting Ltd, with about $10 million being spent.

Upgrades at Argyle Park, Tinwald and Rakaia are currently waiting for the arrival of UV equipment from Canada.

Mr McCann said each plant required custom-made UV equipment, which was made in Canada and then shipped to New Zealand.

“The UV units are not off the shelf items, as they are made to specific requirements for the electrical supply and the building that will house it. We’ve been at the mercy of the shipping industry getting them into the country though, but we’re still on track for the work to be completed by the end of this year.”

Upgrade work is also under way at Chertsey, Ashburton Domain and Bridge Street.