Taumata Arowai rules lead to total chlorination of Christchurch water

Saturday, 26 August 2023, 3:04 pm
Article: Scoop Election Podcast

With a tight race in Ilam shaping up between incumbent Labour MP Sarah Pallett, National’s Hamish Campbell and TOP leader Raf Manji the subject of chlorinated water could literally be a ‘water cooler’ issue for this electorate.

On Tuesday 29 August all the contenders for the Ilam electorate will have chance to put their views on this issue and others affecting west Christchurch when the Taxpayer’s Union debate kicks off at Misceo Café and Bar at 7pm.

As of August 2023, Christchurch’s filling stations that provided dedicated fans of non-chlorinated water the opportunity to fill up their plastic ten litre containers with pure glacial H2o have now been shut down.

The last few holdouts of chlorine free water in Christchurch the Burnside and New Brighton are now nothing more than shuttered chained, chained up pipes visited by the odd perplexed and sad water consumer.

Scoop sent in questions to Christchurch City Council about the closure of the water filling station/s and received these answers.

Response below from Head of Three Waters Brent Smith to Scoop

Scoop: Were the water filling stations closed by the City Council due to Taumata Arowai or was this entirely a decision made by the CCC, if so, why?

Christchurch City Council: The unchlorinated water fill stations were closed by the Council as they do not currently comply with drinking water rules.

Scoop: Was there any water testing done in the last year or so that showed the water was unsafe/safe to drink?

Christchurch City Council: As above, the unchlorinated water fill stations were closed by the Council as they do not currently comply with the drinking water rules.

Scoop: Taumata Arowai said that the media release had been updated by CCC – what part of the CCC media release was updated and where on the release does this state it was updated?

Christchurch City Council: We updated the following line after discussion with Taumata Arowai: “Our unchlorinated water fill stations do not currently comply with drinking water rules.”

BACKGROUND:

The issue of chlorine in the water of Christchurch has long vexed residents who since 2018 have had chlorine added to their water supply as a health precaution. This policy is not driven by the Christchurch City Council but was initially put in place by the Ministry of Health.

Recent attempts by the Christchurch City Council to have areas of the city exempted from water chlorination have all been turned down by the current Wellington based regulator of water quality, Taumata Arowai.

Taumata Arowai, took over from the Ministry of Health after the passing of the Water Services Act in late 2021. The Water Services Act was put through as a Government Bill. During the Bill’s final reading 28 September 2021 Labour Ilam MP Sarah Pallett told Parliament that “Christchurch residents will also be pleased to hear that a strong focus was on enabling suppliers to provide chlorine-free water to consumers, so long as it is safe and meets drinking standards.”

This statement will be met with some scepticism Christchurch residents that were hoping the water throughout Christchurch would begin returning to its pre-2018 non chlorinated state.

Waimairi Councillor Sam Macdonald recently organised a petition against water chlorination that was sent to Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty – so far without any response. Christchurch’s local government representatives have also tried to entice the CEO of Taumati Arowai Allan Prangnell down from Wellington to get more clarity on this issue without success.

Fortunately for those voters wanting answers to why Christchurch residents can no longer enjoy a cool drink of water from the filling stations the debates prior to the 2023 election may provide some answers.

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