Three Waters Service – Best Source for Drinking Water
Three Water Reform from Government is going to alter the way you get drinking water, stormwater and wastewater services.
Three Waters – Drinking, Waste and Storm Water
Right now, 67 councils are handling the water services in New Zealand. Following the reform, the delivery of water is going to be taken care of by four new formed entities. They are going to borrow and manage funds to improve water infrastructure now as well as in future. Water assets are owned by these councils and they will remain under their jurisdiction.
Three Waters Reform
Taumata Arowai, Three Waters regulator supplies drinking water to more than one house using a single pipe regardless of the source. New regulations have been published already. Setting the water quality parameters, the authorities include maximum acceptable water quality values and aesthetic quality values.
Testing the water, we organise everything. Following the test, our experts analyse everything and recommend how to meet government parameters regarding the water supply.
What is the Drinking Water Assurance Rule?
For being a supplier, you need to have three components.
- Source Water Abstraction
- Water Treatment Plant
- Distribution System
There are two types of supplies – networked and self-supplied with 4 primary categories of suppliers.
Networked Supply: Drinking water supplier offers drinking water through a distribution system. According to the consumer’s demand, we take care of water pressure and volume. If anyone requests restricted flow or volume, it is possible. The network adds storage facilities for buffering demand.
Self-Supplied: For water supplies, you can trust self-supplied buildings. It is a mode that helps to supply water to a minimum of 10 buildings located within the same premise. More than 25 people can obtain the water from the supplier easily.
Water Supply Mode Based on the Number of People
Very Small Community: Drinking water is supplied to 25 people. However, the population may fluctuate and it can rise to 50 people. Water supply may continue from 60 days to 12 months period. It is compliant with VSC. Experts monitor everything every month for E-Coli and create an annual report.
Small Community (26 – 100 people): Drinking water supply utilises changing population module. It comes with level 1 compliant. Monitoring is done every 3 months for E.Coli, total coliforms and turbidity. Reports are made annually.
Water goes through a 5-micron filtration process along with a Class A UV. Risk of cross connection and backflow is evaluated and eradicated.
Medium Community (101 to 500 people): Using variant population module, drinking water supply happens. Level 2 compliant service is offered with monthly monitoring service on different categories. It is possible to get reports on water conditions annually. Experts use different treatment processes.
Large Community (More than 500 people): Level 3 compliant is applied. It is a complex mode. It is better to talk with the experts if you have any questions in mind.
Why Do You Need New Rules and Regulations?
New rules and regulations guarantee the water does not have any germs of E-coli, Cryptosporidium, and Giardia. Through rules and regulations, aesthetic standards and water quality are met. It is important to drink water that is clean and germ-free.
To meet the water purification standard, experts use simple solutions.
We at Cloud Water Purification use established processes and high-quality filtration products according to the regulations. And, these are not expensive at all.
Let’s Check the Process Now:
Water Testing: Registered IANZ lab does all the testing. Hill Laboratories has the authority to send a testing kit. We can organise a test too. Based on the supply level, we decide the schedule for testing and monitoring.
Treatment: We chose a purification solution depending on the test result. Mostly, a 5-micron twin filter and UV filter are installed to take care of purification needs. For full installation, you may need to pay about $2220 + GST.
Reporting: Once a year, we check everything and report for your satisfaction and safety.
Registration with Taumata Arowai is necessary for reporting. It allows it to be recognised quickly.
Fluoridation
The Government brought out the news today that Ashley Bloomfield has written to 14 Councils to fluoridate their water. From international standards in fluoridation, it is noted generally that the use of fluoridation up to 1.5ppm is safe for health and supports the health of teeth especially.
Within this, there is a large population of the community that is against fluoridation of water. This is due to skeletal fluorosis as well as dental fluorosis which is typically probable in water that has fluoride higher than 1.5ppm.
Some people also notice that Fluoride affects their thyroid health in a negative way. Fluoride comes from fluorine, which is a common, natural, and abundant element. Adding fluoride to the water supply reduces the incidence of tooth decay. Fluoride protects teeth from decay by demineralization and remineralization. However, too much fluoride can lead to dental fluorosis or skeletal fluorosis, which can damage bones and joints.
Fluoride is only ingested into the body orally so you only need to purify the drinking water, there is no need to purify the whole house water.
To purify water from fluoride, there are two main ways:
- is the use of Reverse Osmosis to purify water. This is a more expensive solution as the filter units are quite complex with multiple stages. The RO membrane is the one that does all the work on this. Prices start from $1495 fully installed. The filters last quite a long time with membranes lasting up to 5 years.
- is the use of AAL or Activated Alumina. This is the lower-priced option as it only requires a two-stage filter that includes the AAL and Carbon Block filter. Prices are generally $850 fully installed. The AAL filter lasts 6 months before needing changing and typically costs $150 for two filters.
These places have now been asked to add fluoridation to their water supply:
Auckland, Hastings, Horowhenua, Kawerau, Nelson, New Plymouth, Rotorua Lakes, Tararua, Tauranga City, Waipa, Waitaki, Western Bay of Plenty, Far North and Whangārei.
To see where in New Zealand Fluoridation has already occurred
Information Source: Stuff latest news report from 27/7/2022