RAETIHI DIESEL SPILL - #10

Steps to Residential Line Flushing

Ruapehu District Council (RDC) and its water contractor Veolia Water completed the cleaning of the raw water line between the settling ponds and the reservoir yesterday.

RDC Chief Executive and Civil Defence Controller, Peter Till, said that cleaning of the reservoir is expected to be completed by around midday today allowing it to be refilled in preparation for the flushing of water pipes.

“Unfortunately old sludge in the reservoir not connected with the diesel contamination has made the reservoir cleaning more time consuming than expected,” he said.

“A suction truck has been needed to be brought in to resolve this issue.”

“Once the cleaning of the reservoir has been completed the refilling process will get underway which will take overnight tonight.”

“Before any flushing gets underway residents will be provided with detailed instructions of what is going to happen and what they need to do.”

Mr Till said that the flushing of the reticulated system will occur in different blocks of Raetihi at a time.

“Re-pressurizing an old network like Raetihi’s is a delicate process and there may be the odd mains break that needs to be fixed as we go,” he said.

“Residents should note that once the flushing process gets underway although water may be available at their homes they should not use it for any purpose whatsoever until advised.”

“During the flushing of the mains network and re-pressurizing of the system people should have their toby and all their taps turned-off.”

“Once this stage is complete we then need to get an all-clear from the Ministry of Health (MOH) that the water in the mains network is safe for human consumption before starting on the flushing out of domestic plumbing and returning water into homes.”

Mr Till noted that the testing of the mains water requires three clear samples taken at random points around the network.

“When we start the flushing of domestic plumbing we will then be asking residents to turn all their taps on.”
“This stage will be supported by the Fire Service who will be going door-to-door as we work our way around the township.”

“Detailed written information on the flushing process and what residents need to will be released later today.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media

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