Christchurch may never be chlorine free again, mayor believes
Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Christchurch’s representatives fear the city water supply will never be chlorine-free again, despite years of upgrades and shifting goalposts.
The Christchurch City Council had hoped to remove chlorine from its water supply by obtaining exemptions from national water regulator, Taumata Arowai, for each of its 11 water supply zones, one by one.
But on Tuesday the regulator indicated that the council’s first and best application, for the Brooklands-Kainga area, will be denied.
Its failure led mayor Phil Mauger to say he believes in his “heart of hearts” that Christchurch will never be free of chlorine.
“I am pissed right off. We have jumped through all these hoops, but the posts keep getting moved, and it’s just unworkable,” he told The Press.
Although chlorine is a widely used safety measure to prevent contamination, and is legally required in water supplies across the country, Christchurch’s previously-natural supply had been a source of pride.
Mauger and other elected members were “outraged” and described it as the council being “forced to chlorinate our water supply”.
The exemption process, sold to the council as being achievable, actually required it to “go over and above the standards set out by the Government”, Mauger said.
“I feel as a council we have been led up the garden path by Taumata Arowai.”
Mauger has invited Taumata Arowai’s chief executive to a public council meeting to explain the agency’s position.
A Taumata Arowai spokesperson told The Press it provided the draft decision to the Christchurch City Council on May 9, and met with council staff to discuss it the next day. No final decision had been made.
The council needed to demonstrate the safe supply of drinking water without a residual disinfectant (chlorine), as well as comply with other legal requirements, in order for an exemption to be made, they said.
One reason the regulator may decline the exemption, according to a council statement, was the lack of a primary treatment barrier, such as UV treatment.
Deputy mayor Pauline Cotter said improving the city’s infrastructure was a good thing, “but the people of Christchurch are saying we’ve never had an issue with our water”.
“The big question is, how good is good enough? Ever since 2018 they’ve changed the goalposts on us, sometimes twice a year or more.”
She said council did not want to give up the quest for chlorine-free water, but residents needed to decide if the extra cost – without guarantee of success – was worth it.
The council said necessary upgrades would cost “many millions” and be considered in the long-term plan (LTP) 2024-34.
About $2.3 billion of capital spending was allocated to three waters in the LTP 2021-31, $837 million of which was carved out for drinking water infrastructure.
As it stood, the three waters department was $2.5m over budget for operational costs and staffing costs.
News of the budget blow-out came in an April council meeting, where elected members were told of 12 instances of their water supply being potentially non-compliant with Taumata Arowai regulations.
At the time, the councillors were told the majority of issues were more technical “than actual risks to water safety”.
The council would not comment on whether either issue had contributed to Three Waters boss Helen Beaumont being mysteriously away from work.
Beaumont and general manager Jane Davis have been off work since February and the council has refused to say why.
Staff began work on introducing chlorine to the 20% of the network that didn’t already have it on Tuesday.
The remaining 80% is already being treated with a low dose of chlorine (0.2 parts per million) and has been (though now at a lower dose) since March 2018.