The water tanker in Featherston. PHOTO/MARY ARGUE
There’s light at the end of the tunnel for 2600 Featherston residents who have had to boil their water for the past 10 days after a severe weather event.
On February 13, the Featherston water supply was placed on a boil water notice after surface water resulting from Cyclone Dovi entered the Boar Bush reservoir.
Water assets management company Wellington Water [WW] began flushing the Featherston water network on Monday morning.
In a statement on Monday, WW said its crews had worked over to weekend to prepare the Featherston water network for flushing.
“Your water supply will continue while we flush the network, but you may experience lower water pressure than normal,” a spokesperson said.
“When the flushing process has been completed, we will take water samples for testing to confirm the water is safe to drink.
“We will then monitor the network for at least three days to ensure the system is clear.
“Please continue to boil all drinking water during this time.”
A water tanker for residents to use was set up on Sunday on Fox St, opposite the skate park.
Before that, WW delivered 450 1.5 litre bottles of drinking water to Featherston Library, and 480 1.5 litre bottles each to Featherston School and St Teresa’s School.
The tanker would be available while WW flushed the water network and took samples to confirm it was safe to drink.
Water from the tanker is treated and does not need to be boiled.
WW urged residents to continue boiling any water from taps for a full minute before consumption.
“We understand the boil water notice is frustrating and we appreciate your patience. We expect the boil water notice to be lifted later this week.” — NZLDR
