The Council is replacing the remaining shallow wells that supply water to Christchurch’s northwest with deep wells to reduce the small risk of contamination from those shallow wells.
In 2012, the Council began a programme to replace the shallow wells in the northwest with deeper wells. The work is being prioritised to reduce the risk of contamination through the more shallow wells.
All 22 shallow wells on the replacement programme are turned off and most of them will be fully decommissioned and sealed by the end of June 2018.
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The Council is also cleaning and coating reservoirs with a waterproof membrane to remove the risk of direct contamination in rain events.
The additional cost of fast-tracking of the northwest shallow wells replacement programme is expected to be about $480,000. This will be paid for by bringing forward spending from future budgets and deferring other less critical projects.