It's official: our water's getting better

WANGANUI'S H2O has defied gravity by climbing the water quality ladder.
The city's urban water supply has received an excellent new grading from the Ministry of Health.
The new "Ab" grading is a significant step up from a former "Da" grading.
The capital letter in the grading relates to the water source and treatment; the lower case letter is the grading of the distribution system (the pipe network that gets the water supply to the boundary of homes).
Infrastructure Committee chair Cr Don McGregor says the grading is exciting news for the city and reflects the council's programme of progressively improving the supply.
"Wanganui previously had a grading of "Da" under the ministry's old standards for community drinking water," Cr McGregor said.
"Our ongoing programme of monitoring and testing to meet the increasing and changing drinking water standards has paid off and we are now providing water of excellent quality to the community."
Wanganui's water source and treatment "A" grading means it has been assessed as "completely satisfactory, extremely low level of risk".
The "b" grading for distribution (which includes the condition of the pipe network, management and water quality) means "satisfactory, very low level of risk".
"The council and community can be delighted with this result and there is still the opportunity to improve further," Cr McGregor said.
"Over the next year it is possible for the Council to seek an "a" grade for the distribution system.
"This would require us to ensure that the system's backflow preventers operate well, which would take minimal effort and cost."
Backflows are devices in the system that stop water coming back into the pipe network from specific properties. "This new water grading has nothing to do with the hardness of Wanganui city water," Cr McGregor said.
"Whether or not to investigate water softening options will be addressed once the referendum results are available."
The new water grading will be discussed at the infrastructure committee's meeting on February 7.