Good progress has been made on renewing Taumarunui's underground water infrastructure this year with replacement of water mains on Golf Rd and Rangaroa and preparation for installing the new Bell Rd and Hakiaha St mains well advanced.
The work is part of a township wide redesign and renewal of underground water infrastructure aimed at dramatically improving the resilience of Taumarunui's water network.
In recent years this has included the renewal of water mains on Hospital Hill, Rangaroa and Simmons Rd and the relining of the Hakiaha St storm and wastewater piping.
Executive Manager Infrastructure Vini Dutra said that the new year will see the installation of a new 450mm water main along Bell Rd and a water line under the railway yard before the renewal of the Hakiaha St water main.
“The Bell Rd main will be an independent trunk main from Matapuna reservoir to Rangaroa reservoir designed to ensure water supply if there is any pipe failure within the CBD area.
When finished these works together with the new 1km, 180mm diameter ring main along Simmons Rd at the back of the golf course installed last year will provide resilience of supply to Taumarunui.
As with earlier water main renewals contractors will be using directional drilling technology to install the new wielded HDPE piping to minimise disruption to the public,” he said.
Mr Dutra said that district wide Council has budgeted $13.2m this 2022/23 financial year on three waters capital works covering drinking, storm and wastewater and $7.6m in 2023/24.
“This includes
on-going work on upgrades to the Ohakune Water Treatment Plant and wastewater
network to enable future growth.
The investment is part of Council's strategy to have as much of the network fully compliant with required standards before services are transferred to the new multi-regional entity in July 2024.
Council staff have been working with the National Transitional Unit to ensure a smooth transition of three waters operations from Council to the entity," he said.
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