Plea for Good Water Supply

By GALE,Hayley

A Collingwood volunteer firefighter has made an urgent plea for the Tasman District Council to solve Takaka’s inadequate water supply for firefighting, saying her paid supervisors are “not permitted to speak out”.

Sara Chapman told the Golden Bay Community Board on Tuesday that submitters to the council’s annual plan were “very dissatisfied” with the outcome following a submissions hearing in Pohara last week.

Virtually all 365 submissions received from Golden Bay were against a piped water scheme for Takaka, and many highlighted the high fire risk in the town.

Ms Chapman said the council had been aware of the serious fire risk in Takaka a year ago.

“Takaka needs to be protected now. I was at the Fonterra fire, and I have seen what happens when there is not an adequate water supply in the first 15 minutes. It leads to devastation.”

Ms Chapman told the board that she wanted to speak out because her supervisors were not permitted to. As a volunteer firefighter, she faced no such restrictions.

Acknowledging the “need for an immediate solution for firefighting”, Cr Stuart Borlase said the council’s engineering services committee would be coming up with a solution at its next meeting.

He said the New Zealand Fire Service in Wellington had indicated that it did not want fire wells because of problems caused by stones and debris.

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