Council Protects Water Supply from Falling Trees

You may have heard the thud or felt the vibrations when some of the mature gum trees at Hickey’s Reserve (home to the Water Treatment Plant) in Pukekohe fell over this winter. They caused a small amount of damage to a fence line however Franklin District Council says action is needed to make sure nothing worse can happen.

“Over time we have maintained and removed these trees as needed, however safety of staff and security of water supply is now threatened. One of these trees falling into a treatment building could damage millions of dollars of equipment and the lack of water supply would be a problem for our community,” says Franklin District Council’s Group Manager Community Facilities, Ian Alexander.

For this reason Council have decided to remove the remaining gum trees. These trees will be replaced by trees and shrubs that will be more appropriate for the site. In particular they will be chosen and located so that they don’t pose a risk to the treatment plant.

Removing the trees gives Franklin District Council an opportunity to improve the overall landscaping and weed removal at the site. This landscaping will result in the removal of the weed and under growth beneath the large specimen trees such as the Plane Trees, Karaka and Puriri enabling Council contractors to mow a larger area.

It is proposed that this work will occur during late November and early December.