Waimate West Water Treatment Plant Opened

South Taranaki District Mayor, Ross Dunlop officially opened the new $10 million Waimate West Water Treatment Plant today, marking the culmination of a highly successful programme to upgrade the district’s water infrastructure.

The new plant, which was completed well under budget, provides the Waimate West catchment with a robust water supply which is fully compliant with the latest NZ Drinking Water Standards.

Mayor Dunlop who recently opened the new Opunake, Rahoutu and Eltham Water Treatment Plants earlier in the year says today’s opening is a momentous occasion.

“In 2005, Council began a ten year programme to massively improve the district’s water infrastructure. We invested a huge amount of time and money into upgrading and modernising the district’s water supplies and have completed nearly $58 million of work since then. Waimate West was the last major project to complete as part of that programme of work,” says Mayor Dunlop.

“Today our water supplies are more robust than they have ever been with new treatment plants, water bores, reservoirs and interconnections between supplies,” he says.

"This investment reflects Council's commitment not only to providing our communities with good quality drinking water but is a vital component contributing to our district’s economic prosperity,” says Mayor Dunlop.

South Taranaki District Council group manager of engineering services, Brent Manning, says Waimate West was a very successful project which was completed well under budget.

“Careful management of the design process and reuse of some existing items together with a keen tender price has resulted in a great outcome,” says Mr Manning. “The excellent team effort during the design and construction where everyone involved has been focused on a quality outcome at least cost has also contributed to this success,” he says.

“In addition to making a substantial saving on the original ten year plan budget of $14.1million, we have also planned to integrate the Pope water supply with Waimate West by laying a pipeline between them and constructing a small pumping station.
This is a positive step which will reduce costs to the farms in the Pope area and allow for a more efficient operation of the Waimate West plant,” says Mr Manning.

The Waimate West treatment plant takes water from the Mangawhero-iti, Otakeho and Mangawhero streams is highly automated using clarifiers and deep bed sand filters to ensure compliance with the Drinkng Water Standards. The plant also generates sufficient electricity via a turbine to meet its own needs but it will still draw from the grid during peak loads.

Waimate West, which supplies water to hundreds of farms through 800 connections and the towns of Manaia and Kaponga, is South Taranaki’s largest water supply by volume processing up to 17.7 million litres of water per day.

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