Council going ahead with its Irongate water supply plan

PIPES: Water pipes being laid along Irongate Road West last week. PHOTO/WARREN BUCKLAND

A group of Irongate landowners say they are frustrated that their water reticulation proposal for the area has been dismissed by the Hastings District Council.

A commissioner hearing on the district plan variation to make Irongate an industrial zone was held on Friday last week, and group spokesman John Roil submitted a paper outlining an alternative option to the council's plans for the area's water supply.

Earlier this year, Mr Roil and about six other submitters questioned the council's proposal to pipe water from Flaxmere.

At the time Mr Roil said the council was asked to investigate a separate reticulated system as part of the consultation process, as the council's proposal would not enable the network to supply the flow and pressure rate required for an FW4 firefighting water supply.

He suggested a stand-alone system with a back-up power supply would meet such requirements, and last week presented a design consultant's report to the hearings, supplemented by a hydrogeologist report looking at the aquifer under the development.

Mr Roil said not only would a stand-alone system satisfy firefighting water needs but it also had the ability to reduce the strain on the existing water supply network; was comparable in cost; and gave an alternative to using the Wilson Road bore.

This bore came under scrutiny in the recently released GNS Science report that found it contained a significant proportion of young water, aged 0.9 of a year, meaning it could introduce bacteria into the water source.

"With the stand-alone supply you potentially have the ability to feed into the Hastings reticulated supply as an alternative option to the Wilson Road bore," Mr Roil said.

"Why spend money on this bore, when for the same cost you could have a new bore on a safe, secure confined aquifer?"

"This is a dry industrial area, and it would provide a high level of protection."

He said he would like the council to get around the table with the submitters and try to work together to find a satisfactory outcome for all parties.

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said the submitters had overlooked the fact that the council appointed an independent person, Ray O'Callaghan, who they approved, to look at the issue.

Mr O'Callaghan had nationwide experience with such matters and came up with and supported the council's position, Mr Yule said.

"We have been very open-minded. I understand what they are saying, but it does not seem to be universal, a lot of people, such as Sunfruit, support the council proposal. They just want the water delivered on time."

He said there had been adequate consultation and the contract to install the water supply pipework had been let and construction was underway.

He added that in terms of water safety, there was no guarantee that young water would only be present in unconfined aquifers.

"In Frimley, one report says there is young water there and that's a confined aquifer."