Tasman District Council is working extremely hard to ensure that all drinking water supply systems it manages meet the treatment standards demanded by the Water Services Authority.

In late 2023, the Water Services Authority (WSA) directed Tasman District Council to install treatment barriers on five water supplies – Motueka, Dovedale, Eighty Eight Valley, Redwoods 1 and Redwoods 2.

Discussions followed regarding our plans to upgrade these supplies, and the challenges involved, then in mid-2024 proposals for how to address the directive were provided.

We are currently waiting to receive confirmation of the acceptability of these proposals from the WSA.

In Motueka the new treatment plant and supply at Parker Street includes all required barriers and provides safe drinking water. This plant has the capacity to supply the entire Motueka urban area.

The reason for the WSA directive to upgrade the treatment was because the bores at the Recreation Centre previously used to supply the town, have no treatment. These have been retained as emergency sources of water should the Parker Street bores fail for any reason. We do not intend to install treatment at the Recreation Centre site at a cost of several million dollars and we have taken steps to ensure that these bores will not be used in anything other than in an emergency.

At Dovedale the supply has chlorine but no protozoa treatment barrier and the source water is subject to poor quality (high turbidity) and restricted flow – and a permanent ‘Boil Water Notice’ is in place.

Investigations into options for a new source of higher quality for this supply have been underway for several years and are currently focusing on trials near the Motueka river. We intend to upgrade this supply to full compliance in due course with timeframes subject to the outcome of new source investigations.

The Eighty Eight Valley supply has chlorine but no protozoa treatment barrier and the source water is subject to poor quality (high turbidity) at times of heavy rain. We are on track to reconfigure the supply over the next three years so that most properties receive fully treated water from other urban supplies. Solutions for the remaining rural properties will be developed at the same time.

Redwoods Valley has two supplies both of which are chlorinated but do not have a protozoa barrier. A project is underway that will combine both supplies into one and incorporate fully compliant treatment barriers and this is due for completion in early 2027.

There’s a small supply for about 14 properties at Upper Tākaka which has fully compliant treatment but does not have residual disinfection (chlorine) in the network, as required by the Water Services Act. We intend to apply to WSA for an exemption from the requirement to chlorinate this supply.

Across the rest of Tasman District, the remaining nine water schemes have all the required treatment barriers in place.

Due to compliance rule complexities, not all supplies are fully compliant with every rule all the time.

There are occasions when ‘Boil Water Notices’ need to be issued on smaller rural supplies but in the vast majority of cases, at all times, safe drinking water is supplied to all homes across Tasman District.

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