Watercare is planning to carry out important changes to its west Auckland water network next week as a long-term solution to some of the damage inflicted by the January storm.

When the storm hit on January 27, a landslip on Scenic Drive near Titirangi broke a watermain, prompting the company to make temporary changes to its network to restore water to customers.

Watercare head of service delivery Sharon Danks says: “Since then, we’ve been working on a longer-term solution that involves reconfiguring the wider network. We hope to be able to carry out this work early next Wednesday morning, however it is largely weather dependent. We also may need to bring the work forward at very short notice if there is severe impact to our network from Cyclone Gabrielle.”

These changes will relieve the strain on the water storage reservoir that’s currently feeding Titirangi, Konini, Oratia and parts of Glen Eden where Watercare has been asking customers to reduce their water use for the past week.

“The work involves reversing the direction of water flowing through our large transmission pipes, which could stir up sediment and temporarily discolour the water in west Auckland,” Danks says. “Any discolouration would be the result of harmless mineral deposits like iron and manganese, that can build up in our pipes.

“We will be flushing water through the pipes to remove as much discoloured water as we can, but there may still be discoloured water in the network when people get up for the day on Wednesday, particularly between 6am and 8am.

“We recommend residents store some water in bottles or a kettle the night before. While discoloured water is unlikely to make them sick, it’s a good idea to have some clear water available for drinking.

“We also recommend people avoid doing laundry on the morning of Wednesday February 15, or at least check the colour of the water first.”

If people experience discoloured water on the morning of Wednesday February 15, Watercare encourages them to run their taps for five minutes. If it does not clear, they can email their address to westauckland@water.co.nz. Watercare will send a crew to their area to carry out further work.

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