Water treatment in the pipeline for Seddon

Seddon residents are set to have a clean and safe drinking water supply from early next year.

Marlborough District Council has secured land above the Seddon War Memorial for a new water treatment plant budgeted at $4.4m that will provide clean drinking water to 200 homes in the township.

Council Operations and Maintenance Engineer, Stephen Rooney, said the plant would provide compliance with the national drinking water standards and enable the township’s boil water notice to be reviewed and lifted.

“The current water scheme, sourced from the bed of the Black Birch Stream, doesn’t provide clean filtration for households, so dirty unfiltered water would come through the system in a heavy storm,” Mr Rooney said.

He said that while a salt-based MIOX treatment scheme had been constructed in 2012 it didn’t protect against giardia or cryptosporidium. The new treatment plant would provide protection against these, to ensure the township’s water supplies met national drinking water standards.

Mr Rooney said council staff and councillors had been working with the community for a number of years to agree on an affordable treatment solution, and he praised the work by members of the Seddon Water Group to help reach a resolution. With the site secured, council and the community were now looking forward to getting construction underway as quickly as possible.

Wairau-Awatere councillor Cynthia Brooks applauded council staff and the Seddon Water Group for persevering in the long and sometimes difficult negotiations over water treatment.

“This is a real milestone which the community can celebrate; it means the project can move ahead and that Seddon residents are going to get the treated water that Council has promised,” she said.

Once the plant has been built, council will consult with surrounding rural property owners regarding the installation of household treatment devices that treat unfiltered water directly at each property.

The water treatment plant is being partly funded by a $1m government subsidy and council reserves. The remaining cost is being met by a capped annual charge for households on the Seddon water scheme, and a charge spread across the region’s rates bill.

ENDS.

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