The construction of Hastings District Council’s water storage and treatment facility in Frimley is about 60 per cent complete.

Councillors visited the site on Friday to see progress on the eight million litre reservoir that is a key part of the facility.

Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said the progress was exciting.

“Safe drinking water remains our number one priority. This facility and Waiaroha, our central city storage and treatment plant, are two of our major drinking water projects. Alongside our upgrading of small community supplies and the very many other upgrades we have completed, these two projects bring us very close to completing our goal of ensuring our drinking water remains safe and resilient, both for our residents of today and future generations.”

The start on the Frimley water reservoir came as Resource Consent was issued and work started on the Waiaroha site, the district’s other main urban water treatment and storage facility on the corner of Southampton St West and Hastings St South, in central Hastings.

At Frimley, below-ground work has been completed, pipe work that will connect the facility to the pipe network has been installed, two of the four new bores have been drilled, and the building of the water tank is underway. The building of the treatment plant is scheduled to start within the next month.

The reservoir is being built from the top down, starting with the dome roof, after which it will be jacked up as the rings of the tank are constructed under it. It will be clad in dark grey aluminium once completed.

It will hold eight million litres of water. As well as enabling effective water treatment, having that amount of drinking-quality water on hand in the event of a natural disaster (along with the proposed 10 million litres at the Eastbourne site and existing 20 million litres in the Havelock North reservoirs) will be invaluable. The reservoir will meet Building Importance Level 4 standards, the highest standard for facilities required post-disaster.

At the site on Friday, Mrs Hazlehurst said it was pleasing that despite the size of the required infrastructure, almost all of the existing mature trees had been able to be kept.

“It’s quite a feat to be able to build such a large project and protect these trees. It has taken a great deal of planning and care to preserve the trees that our community are so fond of.”

The site has a fully-formed landscaping plan. Adding to the mature trees already on the site, more will be added in coming planting seasons.

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