Households on the Chertsey community drinking water scheme will have a short water shutdown next week, as part of important work to commission their new water treatment plant.

The shutdown will be on Tuesday 11 November, from 3pm until 5pm. Contractors will be busy during this time making a critical connection from the new plant to the existing pipe network that supplies the village.

On Wednesday 19 November, those connected to the supply may also experience periodic low pressure between 9am and 5pm, as the booster pumps on the new UV plant settle in. There will be a water tanker at Alexander Street outside the school and current water treatment plant for residents to come and get water if needed.

The $1.4m new treatment plant has UV disinfection and cartridge filtration, to ensure it meets national drinking water standards.

The plant has been under construction on an unformed part of Alexander Street since February and the project has involved building the new facility and installing new water pipes to the scheme’s bore, which remains 180m away at the Chertsey School.

Group Manager of Infrastructure Neil McCann thanked the school community for their patience while part of the road was closed on the eastern side of the schoolground during construction.

“We’re also removing the old reservoir tank at the school and tidying up the site of the old plant site, which has served Council since the late '70s.

“The shutdown next week, and the low pressure day on 19 November means that this project is wrapping up, which is good news.”

Mr McCann said the shutdown on Tuesday 11 November was timed for after school, to cause the least disruption.

“There’ll be no water going into the network for two hours, so people may want to store some for cooking or drinking during that time, or have a bucket of water handy if they want to flush the toilet.”

The new treatment plant is much bigger, to accommodate the new UV equipment and it has a new generator, in case of an electricity outage. Water storage for the scheme has also doubled, with four reservoir tanks each holding 30,000 litres.

Chertsey’s water comes from a deep 145m well and supplies about 210 residents in the village.