Waimangaroa water supply upgrade nearing the finish line

The upgrade of Waimangaroa’s water infrastructure has made steady progress and the remainder of the works are due to be wrapped up by July.

The Waimangaroa's water supply serves approximately 250 residents. In recent years, the trunk main has been vulnerable to breakages resulting in frequent townwide water outages.     

Acting drinking water coordinator Rory Weston says: “We know people in Waimangaroa have been eagerly waiting for this upgrade to be completed. Once finalised the improvements will increase the resilience of the supply and prevent disruptions for residents in Waimangaroa.” 

Since works started in May 2022, the 1700 metres of existing PVC trunk main was replaced with a new polyethylene (PE) trunk main, from the corner of Banbury St to Neighbours St to the top of the Conn’s Creek Rd stonewall.  Also, a new electronic flow meter on the trunk main was installed. 197m of 1960’s Alkathene pipe and laterals on Neighbours St were replaced with a new PE pipe. A 770m long access track to the intakes and settling tank were constructed too.

Mr Weston says: “Our contractors are working on the remaining infrastructure upgrades and we expect that these works will be completed in July.”

These upgrades include the construction of the remaining trunk main of approximately 770m from the stonewall to the intake, construction of a new Conn’s Creek intake at the new site to improve resilience, construction of new settling and balance tanks, and the replacement of approximately 220m of steel pipework on McGill St with a new PVC-U pipe.

Mr Weston says: “The replacement of the trunk main is an important upgrade for the Waimangaroa water supply. With a new resilient polyethylene pipeline from both intakes to the township, we expect that once the work is finalised, we will have minimal disruptions from breakages or blowouts. This means residents won't be faced with frequent water outages, which has been the undesirable reality in the past.”  

As part of the upgrades, contractors will install isolation valves and a settling tank at the Conn’s Creek and the Un-named Creek intakes.

Mr Weston says: “This allows our contractors to clean out the Conn’s Creek and Un-named Creek settling tanks without disrupting the water supply to Waimangaroa in the future.”

For further information please contact:
Acting Drinking Water Coordinator
Rory Weston
Rory.weston@bdc.govt.nz