Tokomaru Water Treatment Plant upgrade wins national award for Horowhenua District Council

Horowhenua District Council’s Tokomaru Water Treatment Plant upgrade has been awarded Infrastructure Project of the Year at the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) Excellence Awards.

The Council was presented with the EQC Excellence Award last night at the annual LGNZ conference in Rotorua, attended by more than 600 delegates from local and central government, as well as stakeholders.

Described as outstanding and innovative, the water treatment plant upgrade resolved a major challenge for the Council in providing a quality water supply to Tokomaru residents.

Water from the plant had been assessed as carrying an unacceptable level of health risk and from 2009 to 2014 residents were advised to boil water. With the project costs originally estimated at between $2 and $3 million the community faced a ten-year wait for the upgrade.

Council staff continued to investigate solutions which would enable them to bring forward the upgrade to ensure the plant was fully compliant with New Zealand Drinking Water Standards.

A number of potential schemes were investigated and found unsuitable and unaffordable. However, through its ongoing investigations, the Council eventually identified a possible innovative treatment and engaged the Wellington-based Filtec water and wastewater treatment specialists to install a pilot plant.

Following a successful four-month trial, the Council - working with water purification system providers h2ope and Council contractor Downer - agreed to press ahead with the scheme which involves the water being treated using chlorine disinfection, coarse sand filter, carbon filters, cartridge filtration and UV disinfection.

Installation was completed just 102 days after Council approval with the compact full-scale treatment plant installed within a shipping container. The project cost only $350,000, funded from existing capital budgets for water treatment plant upgrades in Council's 2014/15 Annual Plan, meaning no impact on rates.

Highly commended in the Infrastructure Project of the Year category were Napier City Council's Filter Waste Water project, and Western Bay of Plenty District Council’s WestLink collaborative road maintenance strategy. The other finalist was Christchurch City Council’s Hagley Oval.

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule said the awards judges hailed the Tokomaru Water Treatment Plant upgrade as outstanding, innovative and an example other councils across the country could follow.

“This is an excellent example of a council thinking innovatively, responding to community concerns and finding a solution that was both affordable, on time and met community and Ministry of Health expectations," he said.

Horowhenua District Mayor Brendan Duffy said he was proud of Council winning such a prestigious award, having already achieved a fantastic outcome of providing a quality water supply - with health, safety, economic and social benefits - to the Tokomaru community.

"Whilst our Infrastructure Services Group Manager Gallo Saidy will say this is a reward for our team, we have to acknowledge the foresight, initiative and innovation demonstrated by him and a group of suppliers that resulted in the Horowhenua District Council being recognised with this award. This Council really is going from good to great," Mayor Duffy said.

ENDS

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