Water Supply
The Waimakariri District Council operates 16 water supply schemes supplying water to over 15,000 properties.
Water Supply Problems
If you have a problem with your water supply, please call the Council on 03 311 8900. If the problem is on the Council side of the 'point of supply', the Council's maintenance contractor will fix it for you.
It may be that your water supply problems are not the Council’s responsibility, for example, there is a private problem with the pipes in your house or the pipe between the Council’s service valve to your house is leaking. If this is the case, you will need to call a plumber and pay them to fix the problem.
For an application to obtain a permit to use a fire hydrant, please contact the Water Asset Manager on 03 311 8900.
Drinking Water Safety
The Council operates water supply schemes to the Drinking-water Standards. Levels of nitrate and other contaminants of interest are monitored by the Council for reticulated water supply schemes. Safety and testing of private wells is the responsibility of the well owner.
Available resources:
Oxford Rural No.2 Source Upgrade Update
The Oxford Rural No.2 water supply scheme is in need of an upgrade to its source in to achieve compliance with the Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand.
Its current source is an infiltration gallery at Coopers Creek. The scheme achieves compliance with the bacterial requirements of the Drinking-water Standards, but not the protozoal requirements (protozoa are organisms such as giardia that can be harmful to humans). It also suffers from elevated turbidity (cloudiness of the water) during high rainfall events. Staff investigated options for an upgrade to the source, and following public consultation in May 2014 the Council resolved to join the Oxford Rural No.2 scheme with the Oxford Urban scheme. The Oxford Urban scheme has a high quality secure source at Domain Road that meets both the bacterial and protozoal requirements of the Drinking Water Standards.
Since this decision, Council has drilled a second well at Domain Road to provide back-up to the two supplies, and also to provide additional capacity for the future. After gaining consent to take water from the second Domain Road well the well headworks and well pump were installed in June and July 2017, and this well is now operating and feeding the Oxford Urban supply (in tandem with the original Domain Road well).
The final stage of the project to join the Oxford Urban and Oxford Rural No.2 schemes is to construct three pump stations within the system to pump water from the urban scheme into the Rural No.2 scheme, and to provide chlorination of the water before it enters the Rural No.2 system. One pump station is being constructed at the Gammans Creek reservoir site, one at Bay Road and a small booster pump station on Sladdens Bush Road.
The contract for the construction of these pump stations has been awarded to ARC Construction Limited, and construction is underway at present. Construction is to be completed and the Oxford Rural No.2 scheme source switched over to Domain Road by the end of June 2018.
