HOROWHENUA District Council Water Services manager Paul Gaydon. PHOTO: ASHLEIGH COLLIS
Horowhenua District Council opened the gates of Levin's water and wastewater treatment plants to the public for an exclusive guided tour on Saturday.
However, the tour also highlighted the faults in New Zealand's "backwards" water services management system, according to a water services manager.
More than 20 interested local residents learned about the journey water takes before it comes through their taps, and how wastewater is treated before it's discharged into the environment.
The open day was hosted by HDC'S new water services manager, Paul Gaydon, and began at the water treatment plant on Gladstone Rd.
Born in South Africa, Gaydon travelled the world working in the area of water services, before moving to New Zealand at the beginning of 2016.
He started working for Horowhenua District Council two months ago and said he was surprised to find water services were so poorly funded in this country.
He said New Zealand needs to streamline its services, because the number of organisations he has to deal with make his job more complicated and costly than it needs to be.
"In South Africa our central government make the rules and provide the funding," Gaydon said.
"New Zealand needs a Department of Water Affairs, a national service with clear rules."
Levin's water treatment plant has recently been subject to an ongoing, "much needed" upgrade of its water treatment plant, costing around $3 million.
A new six-million-litre reservoir has been built, adding to the two existing ones built in 1965 and 1943.
A state-of-the-art $1m Actiflow unit has also been installed, which performs chemical 'magic' on the river water, separating it from the organic matter before it is processed through the existing sand filters.
Gaydon said once the upgrade was complete the water would be clean enough for the town to stop chlorinating it, though they will continue to chlorinate anyway.
"If we get a leak in a pipe or someone decides to chuck a dead animal in the reservoir then we aren't covered if we don't chlorinate," he said.
Moving on to the wastewater treatment plant on Mako Mako Rd, Gaydon spoke to the tour group, touching on the contentious issue of leachate.
Gaydon said the leachate from Levin's active landfill was filtered through two bio filters before being pumped to the wastewater treatment plant, to be processed along with the wastewater.
He said that contrary to popular belief, the leachate was made up of mostly organic matter and even contained bugs.
The plant itself has a beautiful view out across Lake Horowhenua, the now-polluted lake that Levin's treated wastewater was once discharged into.
But Gaydon conceded efforts were being made by Horowhenua District Council to rectify the problems of the past.
He said now Levin's treated wastewater is sent straight to the Pot, a man-made lake sited amongst forestry.
"I wouldn't swim in that water, let alone drink it. The Pot is not designed for that," Gaydon said.
However, where he worked in South Africa, Gaydon said, the discharged water flowed into a river where people traditionally washed and bathed, so it was important the run-off was clean enough, which, he said, it was.
He even described being so confident in the treatment process he had drunk a glass of the treated water to prove it, something that would be impossible to do with the finished product in the Pot.
Despite his concerns over governance and administration of water services in Horowhenua and beyond, Gaydon did pay tribute to the good habits of local residents in terms of how much rubbish comes down the pipes.
"The quantity of rubbish like plastic and tampons that comes out of the Levin sewer only fills our skip bin up twice weekly," he said.
While Gaydon believes wastewater treatment processes are more relaxed in New Zealand than in South Africa, he acknowledged standards varied too.
"Because of agriculture New Zealand standards are different, farmers use the water for irrigation," he said.
Tour participants spoken to by the Horowhenua Chronicle said they felt reassured after the visit.
Resident Rose Wingate said she felt more secure having seen the processes with her own eyes, but was disgusted by the smell at the wastewater treatment plant.
"It will take a while for that smell to leave my nose," she said.
Margaret Campbell also attended the tour and said she was impressed by Gaydon's resume.
"The tour was very interesting and it sounds like HDC has a good catch with Paul who has worked in water services across the world," she said.