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 />
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