Decision signals progress for Kāeo water

Far North District Council is pleased it can now proceed with restoring water to Kāeo properties connected to the Wai Care-owned water supply.

Late yesterday (18 November), Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai announced its decision under section 83 of the Water Services Act 2021 to place the Kāeo drinking water supply under statutory management and appointed Far North District Council (FNDC) to manage the supply.

FNDC Head of Infrastructure Tanya Proctor says the council is grateful to the owner of Wai Care for opting to forego the statutory 90-day period to put in place statutory management.

She says Wai Care customers will be relieved that staff can now act to restore supplies but warns that goal may not be achieved immediately.

“This is the first time Taumata Arowai has invoked section 83 of the Water Services Act 2021, so there are several legal issues we need to work through, not least being the fact that the water treatment plant is on a property owned by a third party. We need to negotiate access with the owner and only then will we be able to inspect the water treatment plant.”

She says the first step will be to restore supplies to residents and businesses as quickly as possible. That will likely mean that customers will again have to boil the water before drinking it. Before the supply was shut more than a month ago forcing Taumata Arowai to intervene, the privately-owned Kāeo supply had been on a boil water advisory for 10 years.

Ms Proctor says that once supplies are restored, staff will then begin a full assessment of the water treatment plant and network to develop options for a long-term solution for customers.