Oamaru Water Mains to be Flushed

Oamaru water supply mains cleaning will start at the end of November
this year; households may be affected for part of a day or night.

The seven year project to bring good quality drinking water to the
residents of Oamaru is entering the final stage.

The multi million dollar water treatment plant upgrade is complete and
successfully treating and delivering very high quality water to the
residents of Oamaru. The remaining step necessary to ensure that the
water is not degraded in delivery is the cleaning of the approximately
100km of water supply mains within town.

Council contractors will, over the next two months, undertake a thorough
street by street flushing of each water main to remove potentially 100+
years of silt accumulation. To achieve the required level of cleaning
large volumes of water will be flushed through fire hydrants onto the
road surface. To remove the silt each individual street water main will
be turned off and back on during the flushing. This means that the
water supply in each flushing area will be turned off and on several
times during the day.

Consumers will receive a letter drop advising them of the programmed
flushing, temporary loss of supply and advice on actions to take in the
event of slight discolouration of the water. This letter drop will
occur at least a day prior to the flushing taking place.

In addition to the letter drop, Council will provide an updated media
release showing a map of the area where the flushing will take place in
the coming week. The updates will appear weekly in the Waitaki Herald,
and in Friday's edition of the Oamaru Mail. Lookout for the logo for
the weekly updates.

Most of the work will be carried out during the day, but some parts of
the network in the commercial area will be flushed at night to minimise
inconvenience to motorists and businesses.

The Waitaki District Council apologises for any inconvenience caused by
the mains flushing and appreciates the cooperation of consumers.