Beam Me Up Scotty!
7 August 2014
Council is donating a 1970s control panel from its Water Treatment Plant in Kāpiti which would not look out of place on
the US Starship Enterprise from the original Star Trek television series.
“It could make an excellent mock control panel for someone’s starship,” says Martyn Cole, Council’s Water Asset Manager.
“As it weighs a couple of tons, the panel will need to be lifted off the site by crane.”
Sci-fi fan clubs and other interested parties are being asked to get in touch with the Council if they would like to man
the controls of this panel for their own project. A variety of uses have been suggested including using parts for
college robot clubs.
The Waikanae Water Treatment Plant has been operating since 1977 and is undergoing a $4.7 million upgrade to ensure it
can cope with increased future demands for quality drinking water in Kāpiti, one of the fastest growing districts in the
country.
The major areas for upgrade or replacement at the plant include new raw water and high lift pumps, chemical dosing
equipment and the electrical and control facilities. Improvements will also be made to the building itself to ensure
100% compliance with latest earthquake standards.
In parallel, work is being carried out to construct the infrastructure needed for the River Recharge Scheme which will
enable Waikanae River to be topped up with groundwater below the treatment plant in dry times. This will allow more
water to be taken from the river and processed at the plant when needed, also ensuring bore water does not enter our
water supply.
Work is likely to be completed by mid-2015.
ENDS