21 years of water quality work complete

Dunedin (Monday, 31 October 2016) - Dunedin’s drinking water is now among the best in the country after a 21 year programme to improve its quality.

DCC Plant Operations and Maintenance Manager Chris Henderson says the recent completion of an upgrade at the Outram water plant was a milestone event.

“This was the last piece of work in our upgrade programme. We’ve spent more than $100 million dollars and 21 years improving water quality. Historically Dunedin was known for poor water quality but now not only do we meet standards, we are up with the best. It’s an amazing achievement.”

When the programme began in 1995 Dunedin had poor drinking water quality. The city’s water now more than meets the drinking water standards.

Work has included the construction of reservoirs, construction of the new Southern Water Treatment Plant and upgrades to all other water treatment plants including Mt Grand, Waikouaiti, Port Chalmers, West Taieri, Mosgiel and Outram.

The purpose of upgrades was to improve water quality and improve resilience of the water supply.

“The new Southern Water Treatment Plant was an enormous part of this project. It cost around $35 million and on a normal day it supplies about 40% of the city. The Mount Grand water treatment plant was one of the larger upgrades. It included construction of a reservoir and treatment and clarification systems. When it was commissioned in 2006 it made a significant impact to water quality.”

The original scope of the project was extended to include smaller water treatment plants as well.

Upgrades were staged to ensure there was no disruption of supply to Dunedin residents who typically each use around 250 litres of water a day.

The work was also done over a longer period to spread the cost of more than $100 million and to ensure construction needs could be met.

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