Far North District Council seeks solutions to end frequent water outages

A water leak in Oxford St, Kaitāia. Last month, residents experienced up to 14 water outages.

As frustrations over frequent water outages boil over, the Far North District Council said it was exploring collaborative solutions with other Northland councils to future-proof the region’s water supply.

Last month, a wave of water outages rippled through the Far North, leaving residents and businesses grappling with the consequences.

Council officials are now emphasising the need for long-term upgrades to prevent further disruptions, which have been attributed to burst pipes and ageing infrastructure.

Of the 14 outages, in November, Kawakawa had the most outages with water being cut off four times. Kaitāia has the second most outages at three, followed by Kaikohe at two and Kerikeri, Moerewa, Paihia and Rāwene experienced at least one outage.

This month water outages were reported in Kaitāia, Moerewa, Paihia and Rāwene.

According to the updates on the Far North District Council’s (FNDC) website, some of the planned outages were extended “due to extensive repairs” leaving residents without water for hours at a time.

While all the outages were resolved, residents say it is still a big disruption when their water is cut off.

FNDC head of infrastructure, Tanya Proctor, said in November there were 14 water outages – impacting seven out of eight supplies.

“That is less than two outages per water supply. Specifically in November, Kerikeri, Moerewa, Paihia and Rāwene experienced just one outage that month, there were two in Kaikohe and four each in Kawakawa and Kaitāia. All of these outages affected one street or a group of streets – not the entire town. Of the 14, just five outages took longer than originally estimated to repair.”

She said their contractor, Far North Waters, is on call 24 hours a day and responds to all water outage reports.

“Our water infrastructure is found in all types of terrain and can be very difficult to access, an added complication is where pipes run under or alongside roads. Repairs in these locations require that traffic management plans be put in place for the safety of staff and road users. This safety requirement can add to the time taken to make repairs.”

Kaitāia resident Justine Gamble said it was an ongoing issue that has left her having to ensure she always buys drinking water, in case of an outage.

“People are getting fed up ... It has also affected my plumbing, as I have had to get a plumber in to repair my hot water valve. When I asked the plumber why it happened, he said when the water is restarted it can blow debris into the valve. I have had a plumber four times this year to replace my valve.”

Gamble said the constant outages were frustrating and she was worried heading into the drier season.

“Sometimes you will see water flooding down the street, and you will know that you will not have water. The last time when there was a drought, the water burst a lot, and they said it was because the pipes shift when it’s dry. We are heading into the dry season now and possibly more breakages.”

She urged the council to repair old infrastructure and find a permanent solution to the problem.

Proctor said the council has a replacement programme for ageing infrastructure and will also take advantage of other work.

“For example, we may renew pipes when road works are under way. The council has also run leak detection programmes using microphones that ‘listen’ for leaks within our networks.”

“We know that water outages are annoying and disruptive for residents and can temporarily impact on the ability of businesses to operate. Because of this, our aim is to resolve all unplanned water outages as quickly as possible.”