The Greater Greymouth water supply will have a significant shutdown overnight for up to six hours on September 7, to allow for the NZTA Coal Creek bridge works.
That means consumers will be relying on reservoir supply and council will be asking people to conserve water.
To allow the construction of the bypass road to be used during construction of the new bridge, the NZTA is replacing the State Highway 6 bridge, which involves moving the Council water main.
The water work will be done from 10pm to 4am to minimise disruption.
There will be a shorter, two-hour shutdown ahead of this on Tuesday, August 25, from 10pm to midnight.
The Council has reservoirs at Omoto, Arnott Heights, Tasman View, and Stanton Crescent. We will be reliant on these and, whilst the work has been planned in detail, there is potential for loss of supply should it be extended for any reason.
There is the potential for water loss in some elevated areas, and there may be limited or varying pressure during the works.
In the week leading up to the overnight water shutdown, we will be asking Greater Greymouth residents to conserve water: Greymouth, Cobden, Blaketown, Boddytown, Karoro, South Beach, Paroa, Kaiata, Dobson, Stillwater and Coal Creek, as well as Runanga, Dunollie, Rapahoe, and Taylorville.
As back-up, please ensure you have water in stock to last several days.
Council Group Manager Operations Kurtis Perrin-Smith said, while the planning was expected to minimise disruption, people should be prepared.
"This is a multiple-agency contractor approach, with numerous teams being deployed to effectively complete the work within a very tight timeframe."
The conserve water request is expected to remain in place for up to a week after the work while reservoir levels rebuild. We will keep the public updated via social media channels.
The site work itself is weather-dependent and could be delayed.
A water tanker is being arranged to be on standby in Greymouth for firefighting and drinking water.
For road users, a detour is available via State Highway 7 and Taylorville Road, adding 15-20 minutes to the journey. Stay up to date with traffic updates at journeys.nzta.govt.nz/traffic
The Coal Creek bridge was built in 1938 and has experienced foundation damage caused by localised ground movement. The replacement bridge will be built in the same location as the existing one, with the new structure providing a significant increase in resilience at this location.
If you require any further information regarding the water shutdown, please contact Council on 03 769 8600.
