Lack of safe water for motorhomes in Foxton irks caravanner

Foxton's new motorhome park has already attracted visitors, who seem to love it.

Lack of potable (water you can drink safely) at the rest stop and waste dumping station for motorhomes on Foxton's Victoria St (in between the rugby league clubhouse and the squash club facilities) has riled at least one motorhome user, and member of the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association for close to a decade.

Now that the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association has negotiated space for a motorhome park at the Foxton Racecourse, she was delighted to be able to have a stopover on the way home from Masterton, only to drive away disgusted and tired one night as there is no water there at all.

She had hoped the situation would have been fixed by now. It left her very upset.

The motorhome dumping station with a tap for non-potable, non-drinkable, water in Foxton's Victoria St.

The woman, who only wants to be known as Ruth, said she had been discussing the water availability issue with Horowhenua District Council for years.

"Every time they either say they are working on it or there is no money in the budget to do it."

While the water tap at the dumping station clearly states, on a very weathered sign which is stuck to an even worse affected post, that it is 'not-potable water' and also carries the words 'do not drink', she claims she has seen the hose, which is attached to the tap, go into a motorhome's toilet and then into a kid's mouth many times.

"People do not know what potable is. It is a health and safety issue that needs fixing and it is the council's responsibility.

"The solution is very simple: just make another tap a few metres away from the dumping station (for motorhome wastewater, including from its toilet), so people can drink from it safely. They claim to be motorhome friendly, yet they do this. It is not acceptable."

She believes council keeps fobbing her off with statements that the squash court has an outside tap, but no one has been able to find it, she said. Nor could we.

Visitors can't miss this sign: telling them not to drink water from this tap as it sits on top of a motorhome waste dumping station.

"Or they say that taps are targets for vandals who will turn them on and then let them run.

"As if the current tap isn't liable to this. All they need is to install a knob that will only allow the tap to run a certain amount of time. Bit of a nuisance to motorhome users, but that would solve the problem. We have made numerous suggestions to them to alleviate this problem, to no avail."

She claims council promised to get another tap at the dumping site as far back as 2012, but nothing has happened.

The fact that the tap sits on top of the dumping station is the reason it is labelled non-drinkable, just in case. Any other tap that might be installed runs from the same waterline.

A New Zealand Motor Caravan Association spokesperson said its members have access to a mobile phone app which tells them what facilities there are at each campsite.

"The Foxton park is very new and installing a water tap is not as easy as it sounds, but we are working on that. Not all parks have water available and motorhomes are expected to have water on board and they can fill up whenever they are near a water source."

"The tap at Victoria St is a council facility," she said. "We are negotiating with the council to get a tap installed at the new park in Foxton."

Marks clearly show where a water tap is to be ihnstalled at Foxton's new Motorhome Park.

A visit to the park showed space for a tap marked on the grass. Caravanners who were there at the time said they believed the tap would be installed within a week. One of them said, "But the app doesn't say there is water here."

Motorcaravanner Ruth insists the association's 110,000 members expect fresh water at every park. She said she knows there is a freshwater tap outside the pool in Foxton.

"If we all go there, we will cause congestion in the main street, which I am sure no one wants."

Arthur Nelson, parks and property manager for Horowhenua District Council, said, "Horowhenua District Council officers are in discussions with NZMCA about improvements to potable water supply at Victoria Park and the Foxton Racing Club.

"NZMCA have confirmed they are currently investigating getting a potable water source in place at the new Motor Caravan Park on the Foxton Racing Club land for NZMCA members. The council is not responsible for the new Motor Caravan Park."

One of Foxton motorhome park's custodians, Bob Bartlett, said between 10 and 25 motorhomes frequent the park each day.

"They usually turn up in the evening. It tends to be quiet during the day."

He said lots of motorhome parks have no water available and users' vehicles must be self-contained and that means have water on board, as a condition of use. He is hoping there will be a tap at the park in the next few weeks.

He also said the council have also been approached about potable water at the Victoria St site.