Resident has to travel to cemetery for safe drinking water

RNZ News

5 days ago

Ashburton's Lal Mulligan makes a weekly trip to the Ashburton Cemetery to fill up water containers as her private bore supply is at risk from high nitrate levels and E coli.
Photo:
LDR / Jonathan Leask
Lal Mulligan wants water she can drink from her tap.
At the moment she travels from her home on Keenans Road in north-east Ashburton to the cemetery with plastic containers to source water from the treated town supply.
Mulligan, who is concerned around high nitrates and E coli in her private bore supply, has been calling on the Ashburton District Council to extend drinking and wastewater pipes to the north-east - home to about 100 households - for years.
Mulligan accused the council of turning their backs on the North-East community, asking "where's our water" when she presented her submission on the 2024-34 long-term plan submission.
Now the council has come knocking.
Council infrastructure and open spaces group manager Neil McCann said the detailed design for a drinking water network in the whole of the northeast area had been done.
Extensions will be carried out in increments, and only if there is landowner support, he said.
The council would start with consulting the landowners in the Keenans Road-Company Road-Seafield Road block on connecting to the town supply.
The letter to residents showed the cost to get the water piped to the property boundary is $12,518 - it is then up to each property to pay to connect from the boundary to their house.
The north east drinking water project is at the point of consulting with properties in the proposed extension area - the triangle of land comprising Seafield Road, Company Road, and Keenans Road.
Photo:
LDR / Jonathan Leask
It is a price Mulligan is willing to pay, and she hopes it gets enough support to convince the council to proceed with the extension.
Her only criticism was the council's consultation letter fails to explain the reason for the extension which is to "give residents safe potable water".
"The water quality is so bad that we need to connect."
The north-east of Ashburton has historic water quality issues, being high in nitrates and E coli, Mulligan said.
"It's been contaminated from a long way back."
Her water is tested monthly, paid for by AMP, and the results "are appalling", she said.
The nitrate levels fluctuate from around 8 to 10.8mg/L and have been as high as 15mg/L - the maximum acceptable value for nitrate in drinking water is 11.3mg/L.
E coli is a constant presence as well, she said.
"You can boil the water to get rid of E coli but then you concentrate the nitrates.
"Five years ago, I put in a deeper bore thinking my water would improve - nope.
"I don't drink it ever."
Ashburton's Celtic Rugby Club, the largest rugby club in the town, would "be silly not to" connect to the town supply president Pete Gowans says.
Photo:
RNZ / Jonathan Leask
Up the road from Mulligan is probably one of the biggest landholders in the area - the Celtic Rugby Club.
President Pete Gowans said the club had received the council letter offering the opportunity to connect to the town supply.
"We'd be silly not to," he said.
"We have systems in place for drinking water, so we don't have any issues."
He said the club had a filtration system on the pump from its private bore supply, while most visiting teams brought their own filled water bottles.
If the club has to stump up the cash to connect to the town supply it would be worth it, he said.
"It will be to the benefit of everyone out there.
"The area is growing with a lot of lifestyle blocks all subdivided up so there are a lot more people out here than there were 15 years ago."
Lal Mulligan filling her water containers at the Ashburton Cemetery.
Photo:
LDR / Jonathan Leask
The council consulted on a reticulated water scheme for the North East area in late 2000, with the cost of the scheme estimated at that time at $1.7 million.
The was insufficient support, around 12 percent, to justify proceeding with the project.
As part of that consultation, the council had also asked about investigating a reticulated wastewater service.
It faired better with 28 percent support, but still too low to justify progressing.
In 2022/23, the council budgeted for an investigation into extending wastewater service to Residential D zoned land around Ashburton and to carry out detailed design for water supply in the north east.
That work has been completed up to the design phase.
Now the first tranche of north east landowners have the opportunity to convince the council to proceed with the extension.
If the extension goes ahead and a property owner does not wish to connect, those properties may still incur a water supply charge through their rates (set at $409 in 2025/26).
After paying the estimated $12,518 to connect, and the additional cost of connecting it from the boundary, the properties will receive the targeted water rate for a connected property ($817 in 2025/26).
McCann said the council was also looking into a wastewater servicing project for the north-east area but "is only in its initial concept stage and council has made no commitment at this point to providing the service".
At the council's Three Waters Services Committee meeting last month, the two projects were discussed and assets manager Andy Guthrie said the wastewater extension would "certainly open up opportunity for development that doesn't currently exist".
McCann said ECan's position on new discharge consents in the area has "likely stalled some development".
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.