Residents near Ōhakea air force base finally get clean drinking water supply

Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Manawatū District mayor Helen Worboys sets the Ōhakea water plant in motion with the click of a mouse, while environment minister David Parker, right, looks on.

A new water supply is up and running for 80 houses and farms at Ōhakea, five years after a contamination threat caused by toxic firefighting foam used at the nearby air base.

The Ōhakea Rural Water Scheme was opened by the Minister for the Environment David Parker and Manawatū District mayor Helen Worboys in Sanson on Tuesday.

The $13 million scheme was actioned after the Defence Force and Ministry for the Environment revealed in 2017 households near the air base had been drinking water contaminated by toxic firefighting foam used during training.

Though use of the harmful chemicals, PFAS and PFOS, had ceased in 2002, the buildup had run off into nearby groundwater, contaminating the water supplies of neighbouring properties.

Rangitīkei MP Ian McKelvie, left, Environment Minister David Parker, Ōhakea resident Andy Russell and Manawatū mayor Helen Worboys inspect the new water reservoir at Sanson.

* Ōhakea air base neighbours should have clean drinking water by Christmas

* Ōhakea water scheme to avoid PFAS contamination should be ready by Christmas 2021

The new water scheme was rolled out to deliver a new bore, reservoir, water treatment plant, and pipe network as well as connections to 87 houses and farms and to Ōhakea air base.

Air Force firefighters blast a crashed Devon with foam to prevent a fuel fire at Ōhakea air base in 2006.

There were 105 properties, not including the base, inside the PFAS plume and therefore eligible for the scheme. However, Defence Force testing in 2018 had determined only five households’ water supply was affected by the contamination.

However, some residents were still concerned about the contaminants in groundwater. Ngati Raukawa ki te Tonga Kim Savage said Tuesday was an emotional day for the community.

“It is a huge development for us. We were not alerted about the issue until 2017, but my father got some kind of instinct that the water was not right, so he started buying the water.”

Savage said residents remained concerned about the presence of PFAS in groundwater and contaminating soil and plants. They were looking at hydroponics or building garden boxes above the ground.

Environment minister David Parker says the residents got a reliable drinking water supply through the scheme.

A New Zealand Defence Force report determined the PFAS plume was expected to persist for many decades, possibly for more than 125 years.

Andy Russell, chairperson of a committee set up to advocate for the affected residents, said the water scheme has lessened the community’s fears around their personal health, but PFAS was still in the aquifer.

“Even though the regional council is monitoring the contaminants levels, the PFAS is going to be there for a generation.

“However, there is no doubt that any new resident who came into the district, they are going to be absolutely fine. The district council did a great job and made it happen.”

The chemicals, dubbed 'forever compounds', were banned from use in fire extinguishers in 2006.

Water testing at Ōhakea had begun in 2015 but it would be two more years before local authorities and residents were informed of the risk.

Residents committee chairperson Andy Russell says the water scheme has lessened the community’s fears around their personal health.

At the time, then-Horizons Regional Council chairman Bruce Gordon slammed the Defence Force for keeping them out of the loop, while Worboys criticised the government’s “inconsistent and unclear” information.

The Defence Force claimed it had informed Horizons in November 2015, but could not provide proof to back this up.

There was no sign of such acrimony on Tuesday, when Parker said the scheme was born from strong advocacy from Worboys and Rangitīkei MP Ian McKelvie.

“You [Ōhakea residents] have finally got a better water supply than you started with. You have got a reliable drinking water supply into the future. Also, there hasn’t been a decline in land values.”

Worboys said the project team had face-to-face visits with residents and had visited 97 properties in the area by mid-2021.

“The project reached everyone in the community eligible to receive water under the planned scheme. The visits helped with the details on where tanks should go, and how many units were needed.”

The scheme’s roll out and progress was affected by the Covid-19 lockdown in August 2021. There was also a delay following water sampling of the aquifer, which showed the water had a high level of iron and manganese.

A second filtration system was required to make the water potable for consumption.

With a reservoir in Sanson and a pipe network of 28 kilometres, the scheme would supply water to more than 80 properties.

The scheme can supply 1500 cubic metres of water a day through the treatment plant, and it includes the reservoir with a capacity for 1 million litres of water.

The government contributed $10.88 million of funding, with half coming from the Defence Force. An additional $2m was paid paid by the Manawatū council.

The contamination found at air bases at Ōhakea and Woodbourne, in Marlborough, sparked further investigations at commercial airports.

Palmerston North Airport found it still had the foam available for use and immediately switched to a safer product.

Correction: An earlier version of this article wrongly reported residents had been drinking bottled water for over four years. The longest time any resident was using bottled water was the 18 months from December 2017 to June 2018. It was discontinued when the Defence Force installed roof water collection tanks for the five affected households. (Updated August 18, 2022, 4.45pm)