A Whanganui man says he came home to brown, sediment-filled water running from his taps and has criticised the local council for being slow to warn residents.
Whanganui District Council said about 35 properties in Castlecliff were experiencing discoloured water and, in some cases, sand or sediment through their taps, and believed the issue was caused by the commissioning of a new, larger watermain that disturbed sediment settled in the existing pipes.
On Wednesday afternoon, water tankers were set up at the Castlecliff Club and the Surf Club, running from 4pm to 7pm on Wednesday and from 9.30am to 6pm on Thursday.
Council chief executive Doug Tate said the affected area appeared to be around, but not limited to, Cornfoot St, Manuka St, Seafront Rd and Taupata St, and that the council was monitoring and testing the water.
"Based on continuous testing, chlorine disinfection levels remain well within recommended levels for safe drinking water," he said.
"While the main was disinfected before being commissioned, sediment remaining in the pipe was disturbed by the higher flows."
Castlecliff resident Derek McInnes told 1News he got home on Monday night and started running a bath, only to find the water brown with sediment sitting on the bottom.
"It's not just, like, contaminated water. It's you've got sand in it, or, you know, grit and grime and stuff. You can't cook in it and you can't boil it for a cup of tea."
He said a bit of grit was "just the nature of living in Castlecliff" because of the hard, limey water, but the sediment this time was "a 1000% worse".
"This was next level. This was, you know, this was something different," he said.
McInnes said he ran the tap for about 30 minutes as the council advised, "to no avail", then ran it again for another half hour after dinner with little improvement.
He also uses a CPAP machine at night for sleep apnoea and said he could not put the water in the reservoir.
After he rang the council, a worker came out and flushed the pipes from a nearby hydrant, McInnes said. The water started to run clearer after about 60 minutes, but there was still sand and sediment on the bottom of the bath.
His main frustration, he said, was a lack of warning and no backup supply.
"The communication wasn't that flash. The water wasn't that flash, and I was pretty disappointed really," he said.
He said his household had bottled water to fall back on but worried about those who could not afford it.
"What about the guy down the road who can't afford to go and buy a 15L bottle of water? That cost shouldn't be on us. That's the council responsibility. That's what we pay our rates for."
He was worried about future water quality amid discussion of moving to water metering.
"It'd be really disappointing if that was the case, and we were still receiving the quality of water that we have," he said.
Council boss Doug Tate said two water tankers were available at Castlecliff as an alternative for affected households while the council worked to resolve the issue.
"We understand why some residents have chosen to buy bottled water while their water is discoloured and appreciate this has been an inconvenience and an unexpected cost," he said.
He said crews were continuing to flush the affected section and monitor water quality across the network, and that some valves had been isolated to help minimise the spread of sediment.
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