Issues continue at leaky Dannevirke dam

Still some work to be done at Dannevirke's impounded supply. Photo / NZME

Dannevirke's dam woes are continuing despite repairs.

A leak was discovered in July and Tararua District Council contracted a company to investigate the source and cause.

Another company was contracted to do the repairs, which were expected to be completed earlier this month.

However, council is still working on identifying what was believed to be small leaks.

Council chief executive Bryan Nicholson told the Dannevirke Community Board meeting on Monday the impounded supply had some fixes but "we're not quite there yet".

He said the problem had been reduced but there were likely to be some other leaks.

"We've got a team down there looking at that," he said.

Mayor Tracey Collis said she felt the frustration for residents still having to conserve water. Photo NZME

It was believed there were two small holes that needed to be investigated.

He was confident the problem would be sorted in time for summer.

Mayor Tracey Collis said she felt the frustration for residents with having to continue conserving water.

"The Dannevirke supply was supposed to be the answer to that," she said.

Council was able to use a contingency plan by taking water directly from the Tamaki River to the treatment plant.

But Collis understood that was little comfort to residents.

She said she was keen to ensure people were kept informed of the situation but right now council didn't have all the answers.

The team wasn't going to point to what they were suspecting just to provide a quick answer.

"I'd like to have more detail."

Samples had been sent to Christchurch to determine what caused the initial problem.

The impounded supply was first completed in 2013, so it was not that old, Collis said.

Her main concern now was how to stop it happening again.

"We'll have to work out going forward what maintenance plan can we put in place, how are we going to plan, how are we going to check this?

"What do we do long term to ensure that we don't find ourselves in this place again?

"We want to thank Dannevirke residents for their ongoing conservation efforts and understanding."