Five Tairāwhiti schools will receive drinking water upgrades over the next two years as part of a Government programme to improve water security at rural and remote schools.
The principal of one school described it as “a lifeline” after water contamination forced it to temporarily close its doors.
The $30 million Drinking Water in Schools Programme was set up nationally this year to support schools supplying their own water.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said about 20% of schools, mostly rural, managed and supplied their own water.
About 450 schools were in the programme.
Work could include new connections to council infrastructure, modernising bores or source water and new filtration systems.
In Tairāwhiti, Tikitiki School, Te Waha o Rerekohu Area School, Te Kura o Hiruharama, Te Karaka Area School, and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Tokomaru were selected.
New Zealand School Property Agency chief executive Gus Gilmore said the five schools were selected on need and would see improvements to their drinking water supply infrastructure.
The response from schools had been positive ahead of receiving modernised water treatment facilities, he said.
“The systems being installed will vary between the schools, depending on their water source quality. At a minimum, all systems will use cartridge filters and validated UV treatment. The timeline for installation at these five schools is within the next two years.”
The upgrades were in the tender process, so costs were not available.
“These will depend on the type of upgrade required and will differ from project to project.”
At Tikitiki School, nearly two and a half hours north of Gisborne, the upgrade will provide a standalone back-up water supply, giving the school an alternative if its existing system fails or power is lost.
Principal Wayne Abraham said recent water quality issues had highlighted the need for a reliable back-up.
“We got it just in case our current system breaks down and when the power goes down. Any crisis situations, that will be the water that we use.”
Over the years, several water tanks had been removed from the school site before five 30,000-litre tanks were installed.
The existing system filtered large debris before treating the water through two microfilters and an ultraviolet (UV) light filter before it reached the school taps.
However, Ministry of Education testing found high contamination levels in the tank water.
“We have had issues recently with the system that we have at the moment, and I think that’s what kicked it off. We had issues with the quality of our water coming from the new system, and the ministry was concerned.
“Although we had the filters and the UV, what was in the tanks had high levels of contamination.”
The school has since completed work on its existing tanks and was selected for the ministry’s water programme.
Tikitiki School will install the new system over the summer holidays to be ready for use next year.
It would operate separately from the existing tanks, Abraham said.
“It’ll be a standalone for the sole purpose of, if our current system fails or power goes out, we still have the means to have drinking water for our students and community.”
A generator will keep the system running during power outages.
Water contamination had previously forced the school to close, making the backup supply particularly important, he said.
“You can never foresee these things, but it has happened to us where we’ve had to actually close the school and get our water sorted due to contamination.
“This hopefully will be a lifeline to keeping our school doors open and then just having our kids maintain that continuity at school.”
The benefits would also extend beyond the school, with whānau regularly using its existing water supply, he said.
The system has helped families understand the importance of safe drinking water.
“With the current water purification filtering system that we have at the moment, they [whānau] always pop over with their bottles in the mornings when they drop their kids off, fill up their bottles and take them with them on their dailies.
“Having our kids understand how good the water is here, it’s an awesome choice for them.”
The new supply could also provide safe drinking water to the wider community during an emergency.
“I look at things as the school is the community and the community is the school. So if it needs to happen, it needs to happen. If our community needs water to drink and we have it, then why not?”
Abraham said the school was fortunate to have been selected for the programme.
LDR is a local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
