5pm update

NPDC staff and volunteers from the Taranaki Emergency Management Office have hit the streets to provide information letters to more than 26,000 properties from New Plymouth to Urenui during the current water supply disruption.

Tankers are up and running at Bell Block (two sites), Waitara (two sites) and Lepperton. The tankers at Mangorei Road and Rimu Street in New Plymouth will be operational shortly. The tankers will run until 9pm and will be available again from 6am tomorrow.

NPDC is working hard to fix the water pipe issue and we’re aiming to fix it as soon as possible.

In the meantime we instruct residents in New Plymouth, Bell Block, Waitara, Tikorangi, Lepperton, Onearo and Urenui to boil water for one minute before being used for drinking. This includes filtered water.

Please use your emergency water supplies first.

All big water users have been asked to stop using water. It is up to businesses and schools to decide if they should shut, however all water must be boiled first before being consumed. We’re working on getting a raw water supply to schools for flushing toilets, and for boiling for consumption, however the decision on whether to reopen remains with each school.

Once the pipe has been repaired, the boil water notice will remain in place for at least a week while we work on decontaminating the system and refilling our water storage.

There is a total ban on using water for gardens or outside washing.

Ex-Cyclone Gita has caused a large tree to fall and destroyed a pipe bridge that carries one of our biggest water pipes near the New Plymouth Water treatment plant yesterday afternoon. This has cut off water supply to the eastern part of the New Plymouth District and will result in outages this afternoon.

NPDC has sourced a pipe to use in the repair.

For more information check out NPDC’s Facebook page, website or call us on 06 759 6060.

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