Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Free geothermal well maintenance audit set to go ahead

Rotorua Daily Post
5 Sep, 2016 03:14 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Photo/File

Photo/File

Rotorua Lakes Council and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council are embarking on a free geothermal well maintenance audit in a joint project to ensure the safety of geothermal wells in Rotorua.

The audit will be jointly funded and co-ordinated by the two councils and will take place between September and November.

Rotorua Lakes Council chief operating officer Dave Foster said it was important to maintain geothermal wells to a safe standard and was also a requirement of the district council's geothermal bylaw 2016 and BOPRC resource consents.

"It's important because of the risks involved when using geothermal fluids, including uncontrolled discharge of hot water and steam, poisonous gases such as H2S, and potential well blowouts," Mr Foster said.

About 50 geothermal wells were audited in 2015 as the first part of the well audit project.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Many of the owners of these wells have since completed the required work to bring their wells up to standard, Mr Foster said.

This next phase will follow up on the previous audit as well as complete an audit of the remaining consented sites in the Rotorua city which number about 70.

"The response to the 2015 audit was generally positive and we expect that to continue. However, where wells have not been properly installed or maintained, well owners will have responsibility for these repairs."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The audit will be undertaken by Kiwi Geothermal and well owners will be provided with a copy of the report and notified if any maintenance issues are found. Well maintenance audits will then be carried out every three years.

Group manager science and strategy Fiona McTavish said the regional council was also working on a related project to trial safe and cheaper ways to measure use of geothermal fluid.

This should help consent holders, who are required to provide this kind of information to council. The information is used to improve our understanding of the resource and to help ensure it is used efficiently and sustainably.

"We are trialling measurement techniques on about 12-15 wells and if successful, this approach may be rolled out to all wells in the future. The regional council is funding the trial and disruption to well owners should be minimal."

An information session will be held for well owners on Thursday September 15 at Rotorua Lakes Council, between 11-1pm and 4-6pm. Staff from both councils (supported by maintenance experts) will be available to talk to well owners.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Premium
Rotorua Daily Post

'Hiding from the council': Rotorua's secret pod shelter for homeless

Rotorua Daily Post

Small town's mayor says campus closure would condemn locals to poverty

Rotorua Daily Post

'Shocking' cuts: 160-plus jobs at risk, campuses face closure


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Premium
Premium
'Hiding from the council': Rotorua's secret pod shelter for homeless
Rotorua Daily Post

'Hiding from the council': Rotorua's secret pod shelter for homeless

The council says that like all accommodation, the Village of Hope needs consent.

15 Jul 05:00 PM
Small town's mayor says campus closure would condemn locals to poverty
Rotorua Daily Post

Small town's mayor says campus closure would condemn locals to poverty

15 Jul 06:00 AM
'Shocking' cuts: 160-plus jobs at risk, campuses face closure
Rotorua Daily Post

'Shocking' cuts: 160-plus jobs at risk, campuses face closure

14 Jul 11:58 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP