Buller District Council’s contractor, Tru-Line Civil Ltd, is nearing completion of works to upgrade the Reefton water supply, Council has announced.
It said the project injected significant investment into Reefton’s water infrastructure and involved the replacement of water pipelines, improvements to the town’s reservoir, water reticulation refitting, and refinement of the water treatment process.
A key milestone was achieved this month when a water bladder was installed in the reservoir. The new water bladder fully encloses the water in the reservoir and protects treated water against contamination after it has been pumped into the reservoir.
With the water bladder in place, the town water supply has now switched back to the main reservoir and is operating through one of the two newly installed polyethylene (PE) pipes, Council said.
The new rising and falling main water pipe will supply drinking water from the water treatment plant via the reservoir to properties throughout Reefton.
“The project involved working closely with neighbouring landowners and residents as the Tru-Line Civil team had to lay the new pipe under the state highway and install pipes up the slope of Donovan Street,” Council Manager Infrastructure Delivery, Eric de Boer said.
The next steps involve commissioning and conducting works near the treatment plant, he said. This work will include installing new pumps located after the plant’s water treatment processes.
To ensure that all new components are synchronised, Tru-Line Civil, and its subcontractor, Chris Dodd Electrical, will upgrade the power and plant control components.
Once the water infrastructure and water treatment processes improvements are finished, council will look towards resolving matters of compliance which includes chlorination of the supply, Mr de Boer said.
