Heathcote awaits water report

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 5

Heathcote awaits water report

In spite of complaints about water supplies, Heathcote County councillors have decided to await a report next month before taking any action. The council’s works and reserves committee, yesterday was told that two Heathcote residents had written complaining about the water shortage, especially in Horotane Valley. In early January, many residents had only a trickle of water coming from taps in their homes. Some residents had trouble with the supply again later in the month. The Assistant County Engineer, Mr W. K. Chen, reported to the council that the Horotane Valley supply had been interrupted for about two weeks. The fault had been with a valve in the reservoir that was being tampered with. “The supply to this area is back to normal,” Mr Chen said. The chairman of the works and reserves committee, Cr Marette Taylor, said that at a meeting in October last year the council staff had been asked to investigate the cost of supplying Horotane Valley with water from the Hillsborough supply. This report was due to be presented next month, she said. A few years ago Heathcote had been refused a loan to improve the supply and had been told to speak to the Lyttelton council. The October meeting had been called because the Heathcote council had not been satisfied with Lyttelton’s

progress, she said. The County Engineer, Mr D. J. May, said that Lyttelton had been waiting for about two years for the Catchment Board to grant a water right. Cr Taylor said that the council should note that this had been one of the driest summers on record and that in the last few years considerable money had been spent on improving the supply system. Cr P. C. McGrail said there had been a lot of criticism from Horotane Valley when growers had to watch their crops suffer from a lack of water. The disappearance of the supply at the end of last month had been baffling, especially when yesterday was one of the hottest days of the summer and people still had water. Cr Taylor asked whether the growers could be asked to work to a roster system so that they were not all watering at the same time.

Cr J. G. Laurenson said he could not see why this

would not work, as some water was better than no water at all. The County Chairman, Mr 0. T. Alpers, said that the council had to make sure that it did not have breaks in the supply again. “We want to try to give them (the ratepayers) a better supply than they have had this summer and we will try everything to do it. It is the council’s full intention to improve the supply before next summer,” he said. Mr May said that many of the problems were caused by the way water was used in the county. “The way the public were using the water this morning is just not on ... a lot of them are watering for 12 hours a day and some turn on their sprinklers in the morning before they leave for work and may turn them off only in the evenings.” The committee decided to wait until next month for the report before taking any action.