Two short water shutdowns are planned for the Fairton supply on 12 July and 17 July to allow contractors to connect Fairton to the main Ashburton town water supply.

The bore that supplies Fairton township is being retired and a new pipeline has been installed from Ashburton along Company Road to Fairton.

There will be no water in the Fairton network on Friday 12 July between 10am and 2pm, and again on Wednesday 17 July between 10am and 2pm.

People are encouraged to store water for drinking, or have buckets of water that can be used to flush toilets during the shutdowns. A water tanker will be also parked outside Fairton School for the community to access water if needed.

Infrastructure and Open Spaces Group Manager Neil McCann said the shutdowns had been planned for the school holidays so the school would not be affected.

“We’ve split the shutdowns over two days so that the period without water is just four hours, and our contractors will be working as quickly as they can to do the work.

“Water won’t be available during the shutdown periods, and residents should store what they need for drinking or other uses, like flushing of toilets.”

The $470,000 project to install the new 2.5km pipeline is on track to be completed by the end of August. It has involved laying 180mm diameter polyethylene pipe along road sides to the existing Fairton water treatment plant, where booster pumps will deliver it into the Fairton pipelines.

Mr McCann said the pipeline had been fully constructed and was currently at the commissioning stage.

“We’re now ready to link the two water networks and it’s likely that Fairton and Ashburton people will notice no difference in terms of levels of service once Fairton is connected to the town supply,” Mr McCann said.

“We will be retaining the pressure pump system at Fairton to ensure the township gets the same pressure and flow they’ve always had, and we’ll repurpose as much of the old water treatment plant as possible at other sites.”