Kāeo's private water treatment plant stopped working more than a month ago. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
The Far North District Council is warning Kāeo residents their decade-long water woes won't be fixed instantly.
Late yesterday the national water authority used its legal powers to take over a private water supply and order the council to operate it.
It was the first time Taumata Arowai had invoked those powers under the Water Services Act 2021.
That unprecedented intervention followed 10 years of residents having to boil their drinking water, months of unsuccessful discussions, and 30 days with no running water at all.
The council's head of infrastructure, Tanya Proctor, said people connected to Kāeo's town supply would be relieved staff could now act to restore water.
However, she warned that goal would not be achieved immediately.
It was the first time Taumata Arowai had used its powers to take control of a water supply, so the council had to work through several legal issues - including access to the treatment plant, which was located on a property owned by a third party.
"We need to negotiate access with the owner and only then will we be able to inspect the water treatment plant."
The next step would be to restore the water supply to residents and businesses as quickly as possible.
Once water was flowing again, it was likely customers would still have to boil it before drinking.
Before taps ran dry a month ago, the privately-owned Kāeo scheme had been on a boil water advisory for 10 years.
Council staff would then begin a full assessment of the treatment plant and pipe network, and come up with options for a long-term solution.
Ms Proctor said the council was grateful to the owner of Wai Care, the company that owned the water supply, for agreeing to forego the normal 90-day period for putting in place statutory management.
Kāeo's water scheme, which supplied fewer than 30 homes and businesses along the town's main street, was originally council owned but sold to Doubtless Bay Water in the year 2000.
In 2008 the company said the scheme was no longer viable and planned to close it down. It was instead bought by Wai Care Environmental Consultants for a nominal sum.
The owner of the land where the treatment plant is located trespassed Wai Care staff earlier this year, saying the company had failed to pay rent for the past seven years.
A water tanker, provided by the council, continues to be stationed in Kāeo from 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday.
The council had previously been reluctant to intervene in Kāeo's troubled water scheme, saying there was no funding set aside for it in the Long Term Plan.
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