Northeast water connected to new reservoir

Pumps at Hamilton's new reservoir at Rototuna which was commissioned last year to add resilience to the city's water supply system. Photo / Tom Rowland

Residents of northeast Hamilton may notice cloudy water or pressure changes this week as the new Rototuna Reservoir comes online. If you have any concerns, call the council.

The final stages of connecting Hamilton's new Rototuna Reservoir to the city's water network started on Monday as pipes are readied to receive water from the 24-million litre reservoir.

Hamilton City Council City waters operations manager Adam Donaldson says the reservoir was officially opened late last year and a testing and improvement programme has been under way to ensure the many components of the project work seamlessly together.

"As we finalise the supply to our residents, we're also really keen to hear from people if they notice any improvements to their water pressure so we can build a picture of the flow rates across the northeast from a customer point of view," Mr Donaldson said.

"There have been four big parts to the $20 million project. There's the reservoir itself, which is two 12-million litres tanks, then there's the pumping system (a set of seven pumps ranging in size) that will supply our network, then we have the new twin bulk main pipes which mean we can supply homes and fill the reservoir at the same time, and finally there's the pipes that supply the suburbs and individual properties."

"We've been working our way through these components to ensure everything works like it should, and naturally our absolute priority is to ensure we continue to supply high quality drinking water for our residents."

From early this week the reservoir will be connected to the wider city network, and in a few weeks will be modified to specifically service the northeast supply zone, improving consistency of supply and pressure to that area of the city.

"We aren't expecting any significant changes to people's supply in the next few weeks although there may be some pressure fluctuations or cloudy water due to air bubbles being expelled through the commissioning process."

Residents in the city's northeast can provide comment on water pressure changes through the council call centre on 838 6699 or by email at info@hcc.govt.nz.

The new reservoir connects to the city's ring main system and, if required, can assist with supplying water to other parts of the city, alleviating emergency reliance on the city's sole water treatment plant.