The restored connection to take water from the Waingake Treatment Plant to the city’s reservoirs was blessed at a special ceremony between Council and Maraetaha Inc on Monday.

The blessing was held at the Waingake Treatment Plant.

From today, water from Waingake will flow through the pipes again after eight breaks in the pipe were fixed in a record six weeks.

Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz says it was a great moment to have the new parts of the reconnected pipe blessed.

“Back when the damage was first seen from the air six weeks ago we thought it could take months to fix.

“We thank everyone who made this happen.

“Maraetaha Inc have provided invaluable support, and our wider community helped save water to bring us to this point today.

“I also want to thank our team at Council who have worked incredibly hard to ensure the water flows again through our main supply pipe to the city’s reservoirs.”

At the blessing was Bella Hawkins from Ngāi Tāmanuhiri to represent Maraetaha Inc, which has a Memorandum of Understanding between them and Gisborne District Council.

Ms Hawkins says they thank the engineers, network servicemen and contractors for the enduring work they have done to repair the waterline.

“Our main kaupapa was to ensure our city's water supply is restored to the level expected for clean, healthy and safe supply.

“We thank our community for their patience and care taken during these repairs,” says Ms Hawkins.

“As Ngāi Tāmanuhiri and Maraetaha Inc our contribution was to manaaki and awhi Council with the repairs of the water pipeline after Cyclone Gabrielle.

“As landowners of Patemaru Station, Gisborne's water pipeline traverses through our whenua.

“As a result of the destruction caused, we met with key personnel and staff at Council to help plan actions that encouraged any and all works needed to repair and stabilise the pipeline.

“This has been an ongoing process and we are pleased to be able to have karakia to restore supply to Tūranganui-a-Kiwa.”

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