Rakaia residents are being asked to conserve water on Monday 7 July when new UV disinfection equipment at the town’s water treatment plant is being commissioned.

The supply will be shut down completely between 8am and 9am and while water will be available for the rest of the day, residents are asked to use it conservatively.

Infrastructure and Open Spaces Group Manager Neil McCann said the water supply would only be briefly interrupted and residents may experience no water for 15-30 minutes during the hour-long shutdown period.

“Service should return to normal shortly after 9am, and then Rakaia’s two reservoirs will supply the town for the rest of the day.

“There will be enough water in the reservoirs if people use it conservatively. They can still have showers and flush toilets but should minimise activities on Monday that would use large amounts of water.”

Contractors have constructed a new building at the water treatment plant to house the UV equipment which is part of a $10 million package of work adding UV steps at Council community water supplies around the district.

The commissioning phase involves making sure all the pipes and electrical components of the new UV step are incorporated properly into the water treatment system.

Text message reminders about the shutdown will be sent to Rakaia residents subscribed to Council’s free text alert service. Text your postcode to ‘4196’ to sign up for alerts.