Many homes and businesses in the Northland town of Dargaville went without running water during King’s Birthday weekend.
Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Water has finally been fully restored in Dargaville after a massive outage caused by four separate pipeline ruptures last week.
Friday’s breakages in the 40-kilometre water supply pipeline all but emptied the town’s water reservoir and left most homes without running water or under tight restrictions.
Kaipara District Council said water was restored to the last homes on upper Hokianga Road, late on Sunday afternoon.
The council had to scramble to set up water tankers and portaloos around town during the King’s Birthday long weekend, while contractors brought in extra staff from Whangārei and Auckland to fix the pipe.
In an update posted late on Sunday, the council said tap water in some parts of town was still discoloured, but it had been treated and was safe to drink.
The discolouration was caused by sediment being stirred up as the tanks were refilled.
A council spokesperson urged Dargaville residents to continue using water conservatively while levels recovered.
As of Sunday evening, the reservoir was about 25 percent full.
The delay in reinstating water to the upper Hokianga Road area – including Panorama Place, Cobham Avenue and Mountview Place – was due to problems with the booster pumps, the council said.
Dargaville Ratepayers and Residents Association chairwoman Rose Dixon was among those who had to wait until late on Sunday to have her water restored.
She said it was clear the town was not prepared for a major water outage.
“You had people unable to flush toilets, unable to wash hands or do the laundry. I’m a mum with five kids at home, so as you can imagine, we had dishes piling up. It was amazing how quickly it became a public health concern,” she said.
Dixon said a lack of communication made the water outage “scarier than it needed to be”.
She said while residents were notified of the pipe rupture, once the taps in many homes ran dry it took more than 12 hours before the council posted an update stating some residents were without water.
People were then told water would be back on Friday evening.
“So when it all of a sudden turned off for everyone, that came as quite a surprise. We had a few people panicking,” Dixon said.
Later, people trying to access the water tanker were unable to find it because it had been moved, again without being clearly communicated.
Dixon said the incident illustrated the poor state of Dargaville’s water infrastructure. Wastewater systems were also in dire need of investment.
It’s not clear why the pipeline failed in so many places in a short period of time.
The Kaipara District Council has been asked for comment.