$1.4m water loan okayed

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 412, 12 November 1991, Page 5

$1.4m water loan okayed

At last Friday's monthly meeting the Ruapehu District Council approved making application for a loan totalling nearly $1.4 million to fund major works which included upgrading the Ohakune water supply and constructing a new intake at National Park. In a report prepared by Council finance director

Chris Ryan, it was explained that the total loan applied for to cover the Ohakune water supply - which includes all work to date, engineering costs and a 10% contingency - is $1,380,000. The estimated cost of the National Park intake work - which has not yet been compieted - is $20,000.

Preliminary tenders have already been received for the work on the Ohakune water supply (which now includes a full treatment plant and reservoir) and final tenders are expected to be received by Council's next meeting in December. The report stated that work on the Ohakune water supply had become more extensive than originally anticipated owing to the presence of giardia in water which has to be treated in a fine filtration plant. The new full treatment plant and reservoir will also incorporate the ul-tra-violet disinfection system. Work will probably begin early next year and the cost of the upgrading work will be levied against the users of the water supplies. - The current $90 per household service charge for water in Ohakune was based on the original estimate of about $600,000 but with the requirement to build a reservoir and full treatment plant outside the national park (the preferred site) the cost of

providing and maintaining the supply will mean an increase of about 3.4% in next year's rates to service the $1,380,000 loan being applied for. This compares with water rates of $40 - $50 per household per year in Raetihi and over $200 being charged in Taumarunui.