Just days after Napier City Council made the final of the competition to find New Zealand’s best tap water, a Greenmeadows resident turned on his tap to find murky brown water flowing from it.
By Linda Hall of Local Democracy Reporting
Dirty water complaints were an ongoing issue in the city between 2017 and 2022, but have been rare since two new bores were installed and the council started an ongoing flushing programme to remove manganese from pipes.
Manawatū District Council scooped the prize, beating Napier, Rotorua Lakes District Council, and Western Bay of Plenty District Council.
Judges congratulated the finalists, saying the high standard of water delivered by them made their task of selecting the winner challenging.
That’s left a bad taste in the mouth of Hamish McLagan after what he saw coming from his taps on Monday.
"I would love the judges to taste the water that came out of our tap," McLagan said.
"The issue with dirty water has been going on for years and while it is the first time it’s happened in two or three years, this is the dirtiest I’ve ever seen it, and it left a lot of muck behind," McLagan said.
He said before 2022 they had a bad run with dirty water running from their taps every three to four months.
"The water would either turn yellow-brown or you’d get a huge chlorine smell out of it.
"The same thing happened when we lived in Tamatea."
McLagan rang the council, who told him to run the water for 20 minutes and "it should come right".
It didn’t.
"It actually got worse. So we called the council again and they came down and flushed the hydrant at the end of the street for 20 minutes, our water came right about 15 minutes after that."
A spokesperson for the council said it received seven calls from Greenmeadows residents on Monday reporting discoloured water.
"Council crews repaired a leaking water main in the Cornwall and Guppy Roads area earlier that day and this may have caused the issue."
They said the discolouration was not a health risk and residents should run their cold tap until the water runs clear. If that didn’t work, they should contact the council.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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