Urgent Water Notices

There are no Do Not Consume Notices currently in place.

Monday 13 March 2023

Boil water notice has now been lifted. Residents on the Acheron Water Supply are advised that they no longer need to boil water.

Council has received water sampling results showing that the water is now safe to drink.

You are no longer required to boil your drinking water. In response to the event, Council has isolated one of the two reservoirs at the scheme intake and is undertaking repairs.

Whilst the repairs are being undertaken the scheme will be running on reduced storage capacity, so customers are asked to conserve water. The conserve water notice will be in place until the repairs to the reservoirs are complete.

The repair work is expected to be complete by mid-April 2023. We appreciate your patience while the Boil Water Notice has been in place.

There are currently no Precautionary Boil Water Notices in place.

A Conserve Water Notice has been issued for Arthur's Pass. The water supply has shut down due to continued high turbidity and the reservoir is running low.

Please conserve water until this supply can be restored to normal levels. Thank you.

The Conserve Water Notice is still in place for the Acheron only Water Supply.

Council has isolated one of the two reservoirs at the scheme intake and is undertaking repairs.

Whilst the repairs are being undertaken the scheme will be running on reduced storage capacity, so customers are asked to conserve water.

The conserve water notice will be in place until the repairs to the reservoirs are complete.

The repair work is expected to be complete by mid-April 2023.

Please conserve water on your premises until the supply can be restored.

There are no Emergency Supply Points currently in place.

Updated 6 March 2023

We will be carrying out works to connect new pipework to the Rolleston Water Supply as part of the upgrade of the water supply on Raven Drive. The contractor for this work is CORDE Ltd.  This work will require shutting off water to all properties on the Raven Drive Supply for up to six hours from 9:00am to 3:00pm on Tuesday 14 March 2023.

Properties within the supply have private tanks, which are filled from the Council water network.  Customer are asked to manage their supply of water while works are underway as the Council water network will not be available to refill tanks during this time. Please note the below advice for when the water supply is switched back on.

Updated Thursday 2 March 2023

We will be carrying out works to connect new pipework as part of upgrade to the water pipes in Pacific Drive, Rakaia Huts. This work will require shutting off water to all properties on the Rakaia Huts supply on two separate occasions.

The first shutdown will be at 9:00am to 12noon on Thursday 9 March 2023, with a back-up day on Friday 10 March 2023, if there are weather delays. The second shutdown will be at 9:00am to 1:00pm on Tuesday 14 March 2023, with a back-up date of Wednesday 15 March 2023.

WHEN THE WATER IS SWITCHED BACK ON
We encourage you to flush your taps by running them for a few moments, starting with any outside taps.  When water is shut off, air bubbles can become trapped in the pipes.  When the water is turned back on, and the air is pushed out under pressure, it can dislodge rust or scale from the pipe walls.  

Flushing your outside taps prevents this being drawn into the taps inside your home. If you run a business that requires constant water service, you will need to organise your own water storage as necessary.  If you have a sprinkler system, we recommend you inform your insurance company of this shutdown.

We apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience as we carry out these works to upgrade your water network and keep it in good working order.

There are no water race disruptions at this time

You may have noticed some changes in the colour, smell and taste of your water in recent weeks. The Council has increased testing of the water supply and all testing shows the water remains safe to drink. We believe this issue has been caused by an increase in naturally occurring cyanobacteria algae in the river. Some cyanobacteria produce toxins which can cause serious health issues, but all testing so far shows your water remains safe to drink. We will continue increased testing to ensure the water remains safe. If there are any indications the water may be unsafe to drink we will let you know immediately.

Our rivers are living things and the taste and odour is affected by naturally occurring organic compounds and cyanobacteria algae are more common in warm weather and more noticeable with low river flows. We expect this algae to naturally flush away with increased rain.

Please note: Boiling the water will not help remove any toxins from the algae and in some instances, heating can result in higher concentrations of cyanotoxins as the cyanobacteria break down.

You can find more information on Cyanobacteria in our waterways from the Environment Canterbury website Health warnings | Environment Canterbury (ecan.govt.nz)

If you have any further concerns please contact us on water.services@selwyn.govt.nz or 0800 SELWYN (735 996)