Council takes action regarding water quality at Milton water plant
Clutha District Council has taken immediate action to address drinking water detailed in a Compliance Order served by Taumata Arowai for the Milton drinking water supply.
Taumata Arowai served the compliance order on Friday 24 November following the regulator’s review of Milton’s drinking water safety plan (DWSP).
Clutha District Council Chief Executive Steve Hill said staff had been working on addressing the biggest concern expressed in the Compliance Order being the Clean in Place (CIP) recycling into the system.
Council has stopped the practice of recycling CIP waste back into the treatment process to address concerns raised by the regulator. The waste is being stored in an onsite tank for transport and disposal.
Mayor Bryan Cadogan said the Clutha District Council is committed to achieving compliance with a plan and actions moving forward.
“We are working closely with Taumata Arowai to achieve the goal of meeting the requirements of this order,” Mayor Cadogan said.
The order also identified non-compliant issues regarding monitoring, recording and record keeping and necessary infrastructure upgrades.
Actions have been identified in conjunction with Taumata Arowai and a plan is in place that is being implemented. The Compliance Order requires actions to be taken by certain timeframes.
In summary, the compliance order requires the Council to:
- Install appropriate monitoring infrastructure.
- Keep and maintaining accurate records of monitoring data.
- Amend and implement the supply’s DWSP.
- Identify all necessary infrastructure upgrades, including for recycling waste streams.
The Compliance Order sets out what’s needed to meet the requirements of the Water Services Act and Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules and provide assurance to the regulator that Clutha District Council is providing a supply of safe drinking water to its community.
This along with other compliance work already underway would address the first deadline of 31 January 2024.
The Clutha District Council has until 31 January 2025 to ensure all directions or conditions relating to the order have been rectified.
The full compliance order can be found here.
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