Infracore staff are working to resolve the water issues affecting part of the CBD. Photo / File
Infracore staff are working to resolve the water issues affecting part of the CBD. Photo / File
A tomo has been identified as the culprit of a burst water main in Rotorua's CBD.
Water has now been restored in the Rotorua city centre after an almost 10-hour outage which forced some businesses to close.
Earlier Rotorua Lakes Council said in a statement offices and properties along RanolfSt between Hinemoa and Eruera Sts were without water due to a broken water main.
The council was encouraging people with properties in the location or nearby who were affected by the outage to ring (07) 348 4199.
Around 12.40pm the council told the Rotorua Daily Post Infracore was working on the water main since about 3am and the water main had been repaired.
Water issues have closed several businesses including Reading Cinemas. Photo / Zizi Sparks
Ruck 'n' Maul Sports Bar and TAB owner Ramona Mitchell said they hadn't had water all day and had been forced to close due to health and safety reasons.
"Usually on Friday this would be full of customers having something to eat. It's a busy lunch day, a big race day in Rotorua and those who can't afford to go to the races come here."
Mitchell estimated they would usually serve between 60 and 70 lunches on a Friday.
"We've had a lot of people come to the door and we had to tell them we've closed.
"It's a real damper ... We're just not impressed at all.."
A message to the Rotorua Daily Post from one of the businesses affected said several of the businesses could not trade for health and safety reasons while the water was off.
Reading Cinemas on Eruera St was closed this morning and had a sign on its door saying customers who had already bought tickets for today should hold on to them for a full refund.
Infracore is currently trying to repair a broken water main, which has caused a water outage for some offices and...
The Ruck n Maul bar is closed. Photo / Zizi Sparks
Ming Zhang who owns a motel nearby said he noticed the outage about 8am and guests started coming to the reception shortly after.
The motel's 25 units were fully booked and 16 in the main building were without water while nine in the smaller building were not affected.
"If they [guests] need water they have to go to the next building."
The motel's cleaners had also been put out when they arrived to clean at 10am. Zhang said they had to carry water from one building to the other and use the smaller guest laundry to wash the sheets.
Another business owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, earlier said she had been told the outage could last two or three hours or the whole day and they had no idea when it might be back on.
A water main that supplies water to offices and properties along Ranolf St between Hinemoa and Eruera Ss has been repaired and the water is back on, the Rotorua Lakes Council said in a statement.
The problem was reported to the council just after 3am and the Infracore on-call officer arrived at the scene about 20 minutes later on Ranolf St.
The officer made sure the site, where a large tomo on the roadside had appeared, was safe before shutting down the main.
Water from the hole was pumped out this morning before Infracore staff found a split in the water main pipeline which needed to be excavated and four meters of piping replaced before the water supply was turned back on at 12.30pm.
