Cool, clear water deep in the South Waikato

By FIONA OLIPHANT

While environmentalists argue about how clean you can get Waikato River water that's allegedly passed through 20 cattle first, spare a thought for Putaruru which produces some of the purest water in the world.

Deep in the South Waikato, two hours from Auckland and not far from the mighty Waikato River, lies Putaruru. Sliced by State Highway 1 between Tirau and Tokoroa, and at a crossroads between Rotorua and Te Awamutu, this is a town most people pass through on their way to somewhere else. There is no roadside giant replica sheep or L&P bottle, but just north of the central roundabout an unusual, circular building - a wedding cake of arched concrete and glass - will catch your eye.

In front of this 1960s architectural treasure (an old post office that now houses royalty and Jim Beam memorabilia) a new park has appeared. Mature cabbage trees are poised in graceful clumps around a landscape of boulders and native plantings. Curved bricked paths wind around a pool in which pure water pulses and swirls from a sculpted blue form and flows down a rock-strewn stream, before spiralling out of site. It is Putaruru's new water park - a thing of great pride to the townsfolk who have laboured and watched it grow over the past few months.

Water is the new badge for a community that has moved on from the camellia-town image of the 1980s. For water is Putaruru's best-kept secret. Starting out as rain in the Mamaku Ranges far to the east, it travels underground for an estimated 50 to 100 years, shedding impurities as it goes. By the time it seeps through the deep volcanic rock aquifers beneath the town, it has become some of the purest water in the world.

The locals have known for decades just how good their water is (no recycled Waikato River for them). They began drinking it in 1945, a year after its discovery from a trial bore sunk at Glenshea Park. Its arrival at the first 12 homes fitted for town supply was welcomed after residents had managed on tank water for so long.

A new supply from the nearby Blue Spring was plumbed in 1991, to meet growing demand, and now provides most of the town's water while Putaruru water provides around 60 per cent of the New Zealand bottled water market, including Blue Spring, Pump, Deep Spring and Cool Blue brands.

Former Olympic marathon medallist Lorraine Moller always believed her home town's water was special and insists that swigs of Putaruru water during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics helped her to win her bronze medal.

"I felt I was running with the support of the town," she says. "At that level of competition every little bit helps, even psychologically."

So convinced was Moller, that on her last trip back from her US home in Colorado she filled a couple of old-fashioned glass gallon bottles from Putaruru's Blue Spring to enter in the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting contest in West Virginia. Moller says preliminary judging gave Putaruru water the highest marks seen in the event's 10 years, but its age by the time of the finals may have counted against it. Despite this, New Zealand's water attracted much interest, with a long line of people queuing to taste it.

T HE water from the Blue Spring is so optically clear it radiates a stunning ultramarine turquoise light. It is so beautiful to look at that two years ago the town opened a walkway that follows the Te Waihou Stream which is fed by the spring which meanders across farmland just east of Putaruru following the stream's crystal path.

Putaruru's new water park brings the Blue Spring right into town as the final stage of an overall spruce-up of Putaruru's central business district that includes new paving, seating, lighting and gardens. Part of the South Waikato District Council's $4 million upgrade of all three South Waikato towns (including Tirau and Tokoroa), Putaruru's's central water feature shines blue, like the spring that feeds it, and bubbles with its water. Visitors can drink the real thing from fountains set into the area's characteristic volcanic boulders. The water tastes great, and it's free.

But the new park reflects more than the town's famous water. Sue Arthur, director of services for the South Waikato District Council, says it has become a symbol of Putaruru's community spirit.

Enthusiasm caught on when people first saw the plans for the park over a year ago, says Arthur. But when the real work began, there was a flood of support. Everyone pitched in, farmers with tractors and trucks, local tradespeople, and citizens young and old digging, planting, mulching and fitting tiles into the two mosaics.

The council budgeted $200,000 for the park, which was estimated to cost much more. But they did not need to worry about the shortfall. Locals donated $25,000 in a "buy a brick" scheme, while business sponsors donated $45,000. On top of this tradespeople and locals put in about 4000 voluntary hours.

"No mean feat for a town of just under 3800 that is not particularly wealthy. Putaruru is at the bottom end of the socio-economic scale," says Arthur, pointing out that half the people in the district earn $15,000 or less. "The support has been overwhelming. People have taken real pride in the park."

John Van Dyk, local businessman and chair of Putaruru's CBD working party, says the town has always had a strong sense of community, due in part to its small size and rating base, which has built a culture of self-reliance. He reckons the last time he saw this level of support for a community project was 25 years ago when Putaruru raised $120,000 to build the Rangiura home for the elderly.

"They've been waiting for something like this to come up," he says. "I think you'd be pretty hard-pressed to find another town in New Zealand with the same level of community spirit as Putaruru."

"It's real heartland," offers Steve Edwards, who co-ordinated construction of the water park for Auckland-based Greenwood Landscape Design. Any time he needed something for the park he would just get in his car and drive along the road until he saw what he needed - and it would be offered.

But, says Edwards, a boy on community service, who had been referred by the police to help, captured the spirit of the project best. "Initially he came on his own and the next day he brought his friend. By the end of the week I had five boys working really hard for no payment. And at the end they were almost in tears with the appreciation of what they had created."

L IKE other provincial towns Putaruru has suffered from rationalisation in industries such as timber processing, and stands to be hit again by proposed layoffs at the Kinleith Mill in nearby Tokoroa.

The town's centrality is both a blessing and a downfall. With Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga and Taupo all within an hour's drive, it is easy for locals to travel to shop out of town. However, this can also be turned to advantage, as Van Dyk knows. His furniture business has been operating in Putaruru for 28 years, and continues to grow and attract outside custom as it has diversified and cornered niche markets.

Van Dyk views Putaruru's water park as key to the town's overall economic development. "If a town presents itself well it creates a good first impression," he says. "With the water park being in the dead centre and 10,000 vehicles passing through each day, it's something that should grab people's attention."

Some are already sensing an upturn. Mel Embling, manager of Pride in Putaruru business association, points to fewer empty shops than a year ago, and a noticeable change in attitude from farmers who are spending more locally. The water park is part of this, she adds. "Having a place for people to relax and congregate and enjoy the basic pleasure of flowing water - it's like having a town centre again."

South Waikato District Councillor Norm Barker has noticed a turn-around in the mood of the town. "People are happy to admit they come from Putaruru again."

Ideas are flowing with the water. A week-long water festival is planned for early next year to coincide with the United Nations international year of freshwater. It will include water sports events, walks to some of the area's natural springs and a New Zealand-wide water-tasting competition.

Certainly the townsfolk appeared to be enjoying their new park when they turned out in their hundreds under an azure autumn sky for the official opening by Prime Minister Helen Clark, last month. The moment she pushed the button and the water feature came to life, kids were drawn to the water like eels, to play in the swirling pools and run up and down the boulders in the stream bed.

Says Edwards: "It was designed to be interactive but even we were surprised at just how interactive it was."

Lorraine Moller's message, read at the opening, quoted T.S. Eliot: "We shall not cease from exploration and the end of our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

Her message continued: "That's how I feel about Putaruru. I very much took for granted the place where I was born and raised; its spaciousness in the farms and forests, the safe and caring community and of course, the pristine water from the Blue Spring that has nourished our town."