Issue 2 - October 2021

Events underline the
importance of resilience

The major project to upgrade the Downlands Rural Water Scheme is progressing well. The recent flooding has underlined the importance of the network resilience parts of the work, such as water storage and treatment upgrades.

Once the raw and treated water storage reservoirs and the new water treatment plant come on stream, Downlands users will see fewer boil water notices and restrictions in place during times when the source water is too dirty to treat.

Most Downlands users still aren’t getting this update, and to enable us to properly plan the next stage of the development we really need to know which people want more water allocation.

If you know people on the scheme please forward them this email, or you can get them to sign up for updates and register their interest in extra water at at: https://www.timaru.govt.nz/downlandsupgrade

Extra Allocations / New Connections

With the new treatment plant nearing completion, work is moving to the upgrade of the main trunk pipeline that will enable us to deliver more water to the Downlands network. This will likely take most of next year.

We’re now going into the planning phase of staging the upgrades using the information we’ve collected so we can target network upgrades to areas where there is the most demand, once we have that plan in place we’ll be getting in touch with individual customers to confirm what they need.

The Downlands Joint Standing Committee has confirmed the one off contribution costs for new connections and getting extra allocation.

• New connections: $6,500 per connection + $8,000 per unit = $14,500 for a new 1 unit tank connection.

• Additional units to existing connections: $8,000 per additional unit.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• These are contribution costs only, installation, extra tanks and pipework will be at the customer’s expense.

• Annual Downlands charges will apply. (Currently: $549/tank + $220/unit)

• Prices include GST

Project Updates

Physical works on the six projects making up the upgrade project are beginning to gather speed following the completion of a significant amount of planning, design and technical work.

Construction of the Raw Water Ponds started in January 2021 and is practically complete. The contractor is Rooney Earthmoving Ltd. These ponds will provide 10 days of treatable water to help make the scheme more resilient to high turbidity in the river.

Pall Marshall Water Consortium have completed design of the Te Ana Wai Water Treatment Plant and construction is nearing completion. Commissioning work is due to commence with aimed completion early next year. This is being put in place to meet the drinking water standards, and to offer more resilience against poor raw water quality.

Construction of Te Ana Wai Treated Water Reservoir is still in progress. 90% of the reservoir wall panels have been installed, with the project programmed for completion in mid-late October.

The Intake Works are now completed. This work is critical to ensure we can continue to take our consented amount of water.

Construction work on the Stage 2 Trunk Pipeline (Cave to Water Treatment Plant) work is due to start shortly. The Stage 1 Trunk Pipeline (Cave to Davison Road) work is also underway and due to be completed this year. This is required to replace aged infrastructure and will enable future development of the scheme.

For a more detailed overview of the project, see the project update on our website. To access just click the button below.

Have you registered your interest?

The upgrade of the scheme will enable us to allocate extra allocation to properties on the scheme as well as connect new properties. To help us better understand where the demand is and plan our works we need people to register their interest.

If you’re receiving this email you’ve probably already filled out the form, however if you’ve been forwarded this email or haven’t filled out the form you can do so by clicking the button below.

The Downlands Scheme is managed by Timaru District Council on behalf of the Downlands Joint Standing Committee.