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Selwyn_Times: July 12, 2023

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Wednesday <strong>July</strong> <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong> <strong>Selwyn</strong> <strong>Times</strong><br />

Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />

NEWS 13<br />

Residents disappointed by<br />

council’s non-attendance<br />

• By Daniel Alvey<br />

DARFIELD RESIDENTS are<br />

disappointed district council<br />

staff didn’t attend a meeting<br />

about chlorine.<br />

The newly formed Darfield<br />

Residents Association met on<br />

Thursday with questions about<br />

chlorine ready for a council<br />

representative, but those went<br />

unanswered.<br />

Chlorination of Darfield<br />

water is legally required until an<br />

exemption is granted by water<br />

services regulator Taumata<br />

Arowai. The district council is<br />

in the process of applying for an<br />

exemption.<br />

Chair Harvey Polglase said it<br />

was disappointing no one from<br />

the district council was there.<br />

“In setting up the residents<br />

association the council said we<br />

could call on council employees<br />

to update us on any issues,”<br />

Polglase said.<br />

“We’d initially had a promise<br />

that someone would attend,<br />

but they decided no one was<br />

available.”<br />

District council infrastructure<br />

and property group manager<br />

Murray Washington said the<br />

residents association was told<br />

UNHAPPY: Darfield residents’ questions about chlorine went unanswered at a public<br />

meeting last week. ​<br />

in June no one could attend and<br />

provided a statement.<br />

“Darfield’s water is supplied by<br />

two bores in the area. Bore one<br />

is 246.80m deep and bore two is<br />

245m deep and chlorination of<br />

the supply averages 0.4-0.6 mg/l<br />

which is average for our supplies<br />

across <strong>Selwyn</strong>,” Washington said.<br />

Polglase said while the outline<br />

was helpful, it did not answer<br />

specific questions residents had.<br />

Malvern Ward district<br />

councillor Lydia Gliddon said<br />

she supports the residents<br />

application for exemption.<br />

“I tried to fight the<br />

chlorination back in December<br />

around stopping it until we could<br />

get some exemptions. Obviously,<br />

Taumata Arowai is setting the<br />

bar so high that you don’t even<br />

know where to go.”<br />

The district council is working<br />

with Rakaia Huts residents,<br />

which was initially rejected<br />

by Taumata Arowai in April.<br />

Gliddon said this will be a test<br />

case for the district council to<br />

see what is needed to get the<br />

exemptions.<br />

“Our first port of call is the<br />

Rakaia Huts exemption, which<br />

we still haven’t got and that is<br />

the benchmark to see how we<br />

can keep progressing with these<br />

exemptions, Taumata Arowai<br />

doesn’t even have a standard for<br />

this.”<br />

Malvern Ward district<br />

councillor Bob Mugford was<br />

unavailable for comment.<br />

Washington said there had<br />

been no standards specified by<br />

Taumata Arowai to achieve a<br />

disinfection exemption.<br />

Taumata Arowai was unable to<br />

respond before deadline.<br />

Library<br />

signage<br />

installed<br />

NEW SIGNAGE has been<br />

installed on Te Ara Ātea after<br />

months of debate over whether<br />

the word ‘library’ should be<br />

included in its name.<br />

The Rolleston Residents Association<br />

had asked the district<br />

council to add ‘library’ to the<br />

name of the building, which<br />

sparked a heated debate among<br />

the community.<br />

The district council said just<br />

putting library on the building<br />

would not be correct as<br />

the building serves multiple<br />

purposes.<br />

The new signage has all the<br />

main services on the building<br />

in both english and Māori and<br />

internationally recognised<br />

symbols.<br />

GO WEST<br />

NIK KERSHAW<br />

THE MOCKERS<br />

THE CHOIRBOYS<br />

AUTOMATIC 80’S<br />

2 MARCH<br />

LINCOLN DOMAIN<br />

TICKETS ON SALE<br />

selwynsounds.co.nz<br />

Faces of <strong>Selwyn</strong> showcases the<br />

journeys that our residents take<br />

when they choose to settle in<br />

our region.<br />

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